European Families Globetrotting More Than Ever Before
Today HomeAway®, a global expert platform in family holiday rentals, reveals that European families are going on holiday to foreign destinations now more than ever before. Its Family Holiday Insider, an analysis of the latest trends in family travel and price developments in the holiday rental industry, found only 12% of European children today have never been abroad.
According to the survey of 9,000 parents across Europe with children under the age of 15, more than half (55%) see the benefits of the family holiday in spending quality time together and strengthening the bond between them and their loved ones. The same number of parents (55%) also feel that having fun together and unwinding from everyday stress is crucial, while 49% said spending more time with the family creates a positive outlook for the future of the whole family, showing how much emotional value parents place on family time together.
Are the kids of today globetrotters?
The majority (53%) of European children have travelled to between 1-3 foreign countries in their lifetime, according to their parents. A quarter (25%) have travelled to between 4-6 foreign holiday destinations with their family. Only 12% of European children have never been to a foreign country in their lifetime.
The Swedes and the Dutch are the most intrepid young travellers in Europe, with 5% of children from Sweden and the Netherlands having visited more than 10 countries, followed by 4% of kids from the UK. The Italians and the French have stayed closer to home, with 19% and 18% respectively having never travelled abroad, potentially favouring a staycation in their beautiful home countries.
For their parents, however, it was a very different story when they were children. Over a third (34%) of parents interviewed said they had never travelled to a foreign destination when they were the same age as their kids. The Swedes and the Dutch of the parents’ generation remained the most well-travelled still, as 4% respectively said they travelled to more than 10 destinations as a child.
As travel has become more convenient and less expensive for families in Europe, a generation of little globetrotters has been born.
