Family holidays. They come in all shapes and sizes and form a big chunk of our leisure travel in the UK. We’ve taken a closer look at one type of family holiday in particular. We’re calling it ‘multigenerational travel’.
By that, we mean a leisure trip with at least 3 generations of the same family, like a grandparent, parent and child travelling together.
But, jokes about the mother-in-law aside, what does multigenerational travel really look like in 2018? We ran a survey and 670 people shared their experiences. *
Most of our respondents had taken 2 multigenerational trips in the past 3 years.
Most multigenerational trips were taken abroad
For their most recent multigenerational trip, the most popular region was Europe:
And, by country, the top 10 destinations are mainly short-haul:
There was definitely a ‘typical’ multigenerational trip for our respondents:
It was in July in Spain for 7 days costing £250-500 per person and 5-10 people were in a travel party. They travelled there by plane and stayed in a hotel (part of a chain).
Among those who made UK trips, the typical multigenerational holiday looked more like this:
It was in August in South West England for 4-6 nights costing £250-500 per person and 5-10 people were in travel a party. They travelled there by car and stayed in a holiday rental.
Among the UK trips, South West of England was the big favourite destination.
With minibreaks (1-3 nights) as you might expect...
trips were made in the UK
were by car
used hotel accommodation
For longer trips of 15+ nights...
Stayed in private accommodation belonging to a family member or friend.
of these longer trips were to destinations outside of Europe.
Similarly, of those spending over £1000 per person
were trips outside the UK
The general consensus is that affordability, weather and ‘ease of getting there’, are the most important factors influencing choice of destination. While social media ranked lowest as an influence, on average.
Lowest ranking factors influencing choice of destination:
However, interestingly, 15% of respondents actually ranked social media as the factor that influenced them most when choosing a destination. This group skews younger on average:
Generation Z
Millennials
Generation X
Baby boomers
But where does each generation most commonly stay?
In terms of choosing accommodation, on average, affordability, activities within walking distance and good communal spaces were the most important factors for our respondents.
Respondents felt customer reviews mattered most
amongst Millenials
Felt internet access was the most important factor
among Gen Z-ers
When Generation Z are part of a multigenerational holiday, the majority lean towards hotel stays or private accommodation owned by family or friends
When the slightly older Millennial group is part of a multigenerational holiday, hotels are still favoured, but with more people favouring holiday rental accommodation
When Generation X are part of a multigenerational holiday, hotels are still favoured, but there is even more of a lean towards holiday rental accommodation
When baby boomers are part of a multigenerational holiday, the majority now lean towards holiday rental accommodation (catered or self catered)
In a nutshell, everyone thinks they’re in charge!
‘in general terms, the person who was mostly ‘in charge’ of the holiday was me’
Across generations, some differences emerge. We split people into four age cohorts:
28% Gen Z-ers felt they were in charge of the holiday:
‘in general terms, the person who was mostly ‘in charge’ of the holiday was...
This rises to 41% for Millenials.
‘in general terms, the person who was mostly ‘in charge’ of the holiday was...
And even more so for GenX-ers:
‘in general terms, the person who was mostly ‘in charge’ of the holiday was...
And yet 44% Baby Boomers felt that they were in charge too
‘in general terms, the person who was mostly ‘in charge’ of the holiday was...
Similarly, for men and women, everyone is in charge:
‘in general terms, the person who was mostly ‘in charge’ of the holiday was me’
When asked ‘Who was mainly in charge of choosing the destination?’
felt it was a task split evenly amongst the group
felt it was mainly me.
felt it was mainly me.
felt it was someone else in the family.
Everyone seems to take some responsibility. Across all ages, (with the exception of the younger Gen Zers), people felt themselves responsible for coordinating dates, booking travel, accommodation and insurance.
When asked ‘Who was mainly in charge of researching things to do (in advance)’:
it was mainly me.
it was mainly me.
it was split evenly amongst the group.
Whilst on holiday, who was mainly in charge of researching things to do?
felt it was a task split evenly among the group.
felt it was mainly me (the highest of any group)
And whilst on holiday, who was mainly in charge of handling day-to-day spending?
felt it was mainly me.
felt it was mainly me.
felt it was a task split evenly among the group.
So a few differences in perceived experience begin to emerge between the generations...
How do people actually feel about going on multigenerational holidays?
In a word, good!
nice way of spending time with my family
something they look forward to
are planning to do it again
However, it seems the younger you are, the more negative you tend to feel about these types of holidays
Agree or strongly agree with ‘it is something I dread’
Agree or strongly agree with ‘I would rather be on holiday with my friends’
Similarly, the younger you are, the more you feel the tensions
Agree or strongly agree with ‘it can be hard juggling different wants and needs within the group’
Agree or strongly agree with ‘it can be hard juggling different budgets within the group’
In terms of how respondents generally described multigenerational travel, in their own words, common themes emerged:
There was a general sense of needing to compromise to manage the complex balance of different needs between generations:
But sometimes the support is welcome
And ultimately, it creates a breadth of perspective
So what does this mean for 2019?
are already planning another multigenerational trip for 2019
still undecided
It seems these kinds of trips work for everyone in general, despite the predictable family tensions that sometimes emerge.
On average relaxation seems more important than having adventures, following outdoor pursuits or soaking up culture on this kind of trip. When it comes to multigenerational travel, it would seem that peace is the aim of the game.