Millennials and Gen Zers are pulling in bigger paychecks, but much of their spending power is fueling short-term purchases like groceries and vacations, not savings.
Having a vacation away from your home isn't required to rest, while groceries are required to not die. Yes, vacations away from home shouldn't be a luxury only for the rich, but there's still a fundamental difference.
The article doesn't really put travelling in the same category as groceries. It says "Younger Americans’ spending on things like travel and dining out has been outpacing their older peers’ even as the economy slows." They specifically put travel in 'luxury' category. Vacations can simply mean time off. Depending on your contract you can have limited paid days off and even vacations without travel can mean expense (unpaid leave).
Besides super low budget weekends away within 4 hours of home, I haven't had a vacation since 2010. If not for a friend with a way to do that cheaply, I've never had a proper vacation in my entire adult life.
I'm still alive.
I feel like I couldn't say the same if I went that long without food, water, or shelter.
Not saying I like the state of affairs, but clearly it's not the same category of "basic need".
Sorry to hear that. Where I live (Spain) everyone I know, even workers with no education and very basic jobs, go on holidays with their families at least once a year. The perspective here is that leisure (holidays, weekends at the beach, vacations) are a basic right and I think it should be viewed like this everywhere.
Also, as I explained in another commend the article talks about travel in the same category as dining out, not groceries.
So while vacation is a basic need it's obviously not as basic as food or rent (which the article doesn't claim).