THE BEST WAY TO GET IN ON THE TREND OF INTERGENERATIONAL TRAVEL IS TO DO IT LOCALLY
The best way to get in on the trend of intergenerational travel is to do it locally - Luxury Travel Magazine
| If you’re flying solo, or travelling with your partner or a friend, an international holiday can be quite simple: book a flight, confirm your accommodation, pack your bags, jump on a plane and away you go. Travelling with your extended family? That’s a whole different ball game. Intergenerational travel involves coordinating sometimes up to four generations of family for a holiday. Everyone has to get time off from school and work at the same time, you need to sort out who will be covering the costs for what (unless the grandparents are paying for the whole trip), and get everyone on the same flight. Then there’s the need for family-friendly accommodation, kid-friendly activities and tours, and on the ground transport that will work for your numbers. Yet the 2011 Virtuoso Luxe Report listed family and multi-generational travel as the top emerging trend for this year, with 74% of clients surveyed frequently planning leisure trips for immediate family, and 17% for extended family. The report also noted a few surprises such as families taking infants and toddlers on holidays, renting villas and apartments for accommodation, booking adventure activities and flying large family groups in private jets. So why has there been this big shift towards family travel? It’s certainly never been more affordable to venture overseas with your loved ones, and with baby boomers becoming more active, adventure holidays with the grandkids are on the agenda. These holidays are becoming more about action and education, all the while getting in some quality family time that would otherwise be reduced to overnight stays and short busy visits over Christmas. And there are still plenty of luxury properties both here and abroad that offer kids clubs, child-care and activities for when mum, dad and the grandparents want some peace and quiet. Organising a holiday of this scale to an international destination still puts a big dent in the budget, thanks to high-cost international flights, passports and visas and high priced food and drinks in some overseas countries. But if you do it domestically, you’ll save on flights (which will be much shorter and smoother with kids in tow), and no passports and visas are required, so there’ll be more budget to spend on tours and activities. | |||||||
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