– Family Travel Consulting finds current events, active wellness, and endangered environments are among top motivators for family vacation planners in 2015 –
Family Travel Consulting (FTC) is seeing a resurgence of big adventure, bucket list trips for families, as predicted by the 2014 MMGYGlobal Traveler Sentiment index, which found traveler confidence bolstered by the strong economy. Every aspect of the travel industry, from airlines to cruises, hotels to motor coaches, has had a record-breaking year and is looking forward to an even stronger 2015.
What’s new is that Grandparent travel has grown 30% in the past year, forcing businesses to stand up and offer a seat (and a family suite) to boomers arriving with toddler or teen in tow.
Here are some of the latest trends – as varied as today’s families themselves — caused by this demographic shift.
1. News Creates New Destinations for 2015. An educated worldview is the new suntan.
Greece and Thailand, often on the 11 o’clock news, have never been cheaper, easier to get to or more desirable. RoadScholar is leading educational family trips to China and Iceland. Insight Cuba will offer family-oriented People to People programs. Extraordinary Journeys is offering alternative safaris to India, Tasmania and Galapagos until Ebola is eradicated.
2. Fitness, Health, Sports Motivate Travel. Forget buffets; get fit instead.
Royal Caribbean’s Quantum of the Seas boasts recreational opportunities from sky-diving to bumper cars, roller skating to spin classes. Hotels are adopting workout tools and apps like Fitbit (available in 8 languages.) Multisport soft adventure tours (hiking, biking, horseback riding and more) increasingly attract families with special itineraries. ResponsibleTravel.com sends active families to hike Petra in Jordan, sea kayak in Croatia, and bike through Spain, which has the second greatest number of UNESCO World Heritage Sites in the world.
3. Ecotourism Evolves from Admiration to Participation. Everyone prefers must-do’s to must-see’s.
Eco-stars like Costa Rica, the Riviera Nayarit region of Mexico, and New Zealand will promote active adventures designed to introduce families to local culture and the environment. Lindblad Expeditions-National Geographic is sailing with upscale, multigenerational passengers to Greenland.
4. All-Inclusive Travel Wins Resort Wars. The Flop n’Drop beach vacation gets even easier.
Club Med is expanding internationally; Hilton Hotels is managing its own all-inclusive line; Hyatt has just launched the Zilara (adults-only) and Ziva (family) all-inclusive brands. To compete, resorts and cruise ships will pack in more perks and make planning a family beach vacation seamless.
5. Luxury Family Travel Arrives. We’ll say it: Kids are demanding travelers.
Two-thirds of the multigenerational travelers surveyed recently by Preferred Hotels Group and MMGY Global said that kids actively choose the family’s destination. Since 60% of millennials polled worked with travel agents, luxury travel specialists are thriving. The British Family Twist, for example, plans custom, super-luxe vacations with chauffeurs, private photographers, and en-suite nannies.
6. The Sharing Economy Discovers Family. Mobile, user-friendly and hip = value.
Our in-laws’ 13-person reunion at an AirBnB.com villa rental happened because the house-sharing service is trusted and chic enough for vacation planners. Hitting the road next is uberFamily which brings kid-focused rideshares, with carseats installed for a $10 surcharge, to uber cars in New York, Philadelphia and Washington DC. RentLuggage.com will unhinge the suitcase industry; AlltheRooms.com is selling out hotels by including condos, homestays and more in search results.
7. Technology Makes Family Travel Easier. High tech gets high marks.
Hotels and cruise lines are caving in to demands for ubiquitous free WiFi by D-I-Y travelers. Smart wristbands, cards and apps safeguard tickets to Disney parks, open rooms on cruise ships, monitor skills on Vail ski trails, predict wait times at airports, and find cheap gas stations with a clean restroom.
Next year, Siri — using Google Maps — should be able to answer, “Are we there yet?”
About Family Travel Consulting
Family Travel Consulting is the collaboration of Eileen Ogintz of Taking the Kids, the nationally syndicated travel column with millions of readers; and Kyle McCarthy of Family Travel Forum, the vacation planning resource that’s The Wall Street Journal’s “Best for Grandparents” and a Forbes “Favorite.” FTC provides strategy, marketing, digital and social know-how to travel and family products, and hosts the TMS Family Travel conference and Summit for media reaching the family vacation audience.
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Nice and informative post, thank you such a nice sharing, we can hope find more from you on this thank you.
This is absolutely first class
phenomenal
very informative article Travel forums provide first hand experience and advice to travelers and are a great source of information and travel tips.
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Have you ever actually traveled with kids? It doesn’t seem like it by the tone of this article.
Hello Dr Ramesh,
If both legal guardians or birth parents of the child are traveling with the child, you will not need any other documentation, except everyone’s visas and passports. Check with your employer about medical insurance. If they will not provide medical coverage overseas, you can inquire with your U.S. based insurance company about what they provide. Some travel insurance companies sell one-year policies to cover students studying overseas and that might be another option. Safe Travels!
Sir, we both are going Europe with work visa on base of permit. Taking our 3year old child with us. Any letter or medical form/ paper we need to carry with us?
A Great Family Activity and one that will bring the family back together in the future when they all grow up!!
Take a look at our adventures. https://www.youtube.com/user/00Shaddow00 . We just started doing this to bring the family together and stop wasting our time setting in front of the television. We are filming our trips to document our adventures to remember and to share with family and friends. Maybe to motivate others to get out there with there family.
good article..
thanks for sharing the wonderful and informative details. Love this blog post. Next month coming to san francisco and looking for best hotel.
Dubai is such a nice place to stay and famous for its wonderful sightseeing’s attractions. The best trip is Dubai sightseeing’s tour and desert safari in Dubai. We had great time couple of years ago.
Everything is very open with a precise clarification of the challenges. It was really informative. Your site is extremely helpful. Many thanks for sharing
Let me add http://www.babyquip.com to the list.
With over 300 locations to serve you in North America, we help tens of thousands of families enjoy more restful and memorable outings near and far.
YAY THAT’S MY TWIN! So proud of you Tali!
Your blog helped me to plan my family trip to Bangkok and Pattaya. Just made a video blog out if it, https://youtu.be/tok17yOR1W8 please watch ang give feedback.
Ranch Vacation with family is a real fun. Here we spent quality time with each other. Truly said, we eat a lot and on-time as well. Riding is also a fun in ranch vacation, Created a perfect picture.
For great prices on water rafting, cruise, zip line, and horseback riding activities, you can check out: http://www.mauiticketsforless.com
We have actually done the ATV tour in Cozumel Mexico, and had an amazing time. We booked with Cozumel Cruise Excursions. Net which is a family business and we had an amazing time. Theres nothing better than going to another country and getting great customer service and amazing people as guides. I would highly recommend checking them out next time your in Cozumel http://cozumelcruiseexcursions.net
This sounds like so much fun! From the haunted houses to the different drinks offered. I didn’t know HHN was such a major part for Universal Orlando. Good to know! Thanks for the article!
Hello Annetta,
Yes, one Permission to Travel or Consent Letter can list more than one child on it, if the contact information for the legal guardians/birth parents is the same.
Safe travels!
Can I use one concept form to apply for two sibling from the same father
Hey, very nice site. I came across this on Google, and I am stoked that I did. I will definitely be coming back here more often. Wish I could add to the conversation and bring a bit more to the table,but am just taking in as much info as I can at the moment. Thanks for sharing.
Thanks for all of these suggestions.
Chicago is a wonderful place to visit.
Excellent very nice! No doubt Dubai is very famous for more activities but desert safari is very unique activity.i love this one…
This is important topic for travel insurance for family and luggage on holiday and if you want to explore more destination you can visit here:- http://www.yourvitalventures.com
Thanks, recommendation cheap hotels is very useful for the preparation of our vacation that will not be soon. Really nice!
Nice article
Nice Travel Tips…
It’s amazing. I hope i can visit it soon T.T
Beautiful article
Our family of 3 adults booked a tour with Kalka Travels in April 2018. Our tour included transportation and accommodation in Delhi, Pushkar, Udaipur, Bundi, Jaipur and Agra. We then caught an overnight train to Varanasi where we met up with a third party contracted by Kalka Travel. Overall we were very happy with the tour company as they delivered on what we had pre-arranged with them. We upgraded our vehicle to a SUV rather than just a sedan, and added an elephant ride to Agra Fort, tickets to traditional dance show in Udaipur, a movie at the Raj Mandir theatre in Jaipur as well as water was supplied each day to us. All breakfasts were included. Our driver Ravinder was exceptional in that he was always on time and patient with us sometimes being late; the vehicle was always cleaned that morning and comfortable. He was highly attentive to our needs, very reliable, polite, and humorous, and told us what to expect at each stop. We always felt very safe with him as he was an excellent driver. His English was good in that we were able to ask many questions of him. Kalka Travels was flexible with our itinerary and our driver stopped at a few places that were not on our list of stops, unlike the other company we had considered booking who told us the drivers could not be flexible.Our wonderful driver, Ravinder, made our trip very special. Kalka Travels also only asked for a $100 deposit in advance and the remainder when we arrived in India, which put us at ease. Bobby Thakur was very quick to respond to any concerns we had. All in all, a wonderful vacation and experience with Kalka Travels.
Nice article! Wanted to point out another license plate app that has a map view showing all your plates, calculates points based on current location and includes US, Canada, Mexico and Australia plates.
For iOS: https://itunes.apple.com/us/app/plates-family-travel-game/id1335335602?mt=8
For Android: https://play.google.com/store/apps/details?id=com.ebrydobby.app.plates.free
Great article & very practical. Thanks for all the tips – I’ll be thinking about them for a while as we work on our website redesign.
Great vacation ideas and post too..!!!
There are many famous forts and palaces along with wildlife sanctuaries and other monuments which has attracted thousands of visitors and some of them have become a part of UNESCO World Heritage Site as well.
We are completely in accord with these ‘not to miss 5 experiences in Dubai.’ We experienced them on a family trip last year. The one thing we missed out was the charter yacht. Now we have taken it as a priority for our next trip after reading your post.
Look like you had a great adventure trip. The ship looks awesome.
Dubai is amazing. I really enjoyed reading your article! 🙂
I just found a website that lists apple festivals all over the country! So you can find something in your area. They all seem a little bit different, which is fun. http://pickyourown.org/applefestivals.php
St john is more quite than other Caribbean islands. St John accessible only by ferry from the other U.S. Virgin Islands, St. John is a true gem in the Caribbean with crystal clear waters, lush green mountains and gorgeous white sand beaches. Though it is the smallest of the three U.S. Virgin Islands, St. John’s unspoiled beauty is perhaps the greatest found anywhere in the Caribbean.
Rajasthan is one of the most vibrant and colorful states in India with its rich culture and traditions since ancient times. It is known as the land of warriors and beautiful princess who even chose to die for saving their chastity and had a great affinity with their motherland. Whether it is the cuisine or the dress sense everything is unique about Rajasthan’s culture. There are many famous forts and palaces along with wildlife sanctuaries and other monuments which has attracted thousands of visitors and some of them have become a part of UNESCO World Heritage Site as well. The famous sites are described in this blog which is good for the history lovers and for those people who want to explore more about the diversity of Rajasthan.
Being in the city of Royal Tents in Jaisalmer of moving sand ridges, you can’t get away from the seat travel. A rough ride on a camel in the Thar Desert is one of the energizing things to do in Jaisalmer Royal Camps. It enables you to investigate the remote and segregated spots tucked amidst the abandon. Absolutely, the additional time you give on your safari, the more remote spots you are probably going to see and the more you may acclimate to and appreciate the abandon serenity.
I am going to Dubai next month thanks for sharing this information will come in handy
Nice post…
Thank you so much for sharing a great information. I appreciate your time and effort in your work. Keep posting.
Thanks, for posting such and Informatic blog. I had been to Amer Fort in Jaipur and it was an amazing experience.
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A rough ride on a camel in the Thar Desert is one of the energizing things to do in Jaisalmer Royal Camps. It enables you to investigate the remote and segregated spots tucked amidst the abandon.
I think that is a wonderful experience at Dubai. I’ve been to Dubai and it’s pretty