HYDERABAD: 97% Indian teens are more likely to say that family vacations bring them close to their siblings and 69% say their favorite memories occurred on family vacations. These were some of the insights from online travel company Expedia’s 2017 Family survey, a study analyzing family choices around holidays across multiple countries and continents.“According to Family Survey 2017, 22% Indian parents regret taking a child on a long-haul flight as 45% had a tantrum during the flight and 39% say that the child made a mess with vomit or otherwise did not make it to the bathroom successfully and 36% yelled at a passenger or flight attendant. However, 81% Indians still research more on kids’ holiday than non-kids holiday,” said Manmeet Ahluwalia, Marketing Head, Expedia in India.
Family Vacations? We are game!
Everyone goes on vacation at least once a year with family, but in some countries, most teens and their parents go twice a year, or even more. Non-parents tend to only go once a year.
l Teens are much more likely to travel twice a year or more with family - Thai and South Korean (74%); Mexico (66%); India (57%); Singapore (55%); Malaysia (52%)
l Parents are quite likely to travel twice a year or more on family vacations - South Korea (68%); Mexico (60%); Thailand (58%); India and Japan (55%); Switzerland and France (50%)
l Family vacations are a strong force to bring siblings together, with large majorities of teens in all countries who have siblings agree that holidays brings them closer.
l Asian teens are much more likely to say family vacations bring them close to their siblings – South Korea, Taiwan, Thailand and Hong Kong (98%); India (97%); Malaysia (96%); Singapore (93%); Brazil and Mexico (92%)
l To measure relative interest in family vacations / holidays, in all countries, teens had more to say about what they did on family vacations compared to what they are doing at school.
l Teenagers had the largest difference in time spent describing their family vacations as compared to school – Japan (12.3 seconds); Malaysia (10.8 seconds); India (10 seconds); Thailand (9.6 seconds); South Korea (9.5 seconds)
Family Vacation = Best Memories
Family vacations play a very big role in creating people’s favourite memories. Most travellers say that the majority of their favourite memories occurred on a family vacation.
l Teens in nearly all countries say that a majority (more than 50%) of their favorites memories occurred on family vacations – Thailand (79%); Malaysia (78%); Brazil (76%); France and South Korea (70%); India (69%)
FavouriteTravel Companions?Grandparents!
Parents choosing to bring Grandma and Grandpa along as their favourite travel companions on family vacations is much less popular.
l Very few parents show their interest in traveling with their own parents, though some interest does show up in Asia - Thailand (24%), India (18%); Malaysia (16%); South Korea (15%); Switzerland (12%)
l Non-parents still choose their parents as their top travel companion - Thailand (59%), Malaysia (38%); Singapore (36%); South Korea (33%); India (30%)
Traveling With Children? Game of Challenges!
Parents said that they regretted taking a child on a long-haul flight with tantrums being the problem for Indian parents – India (22%); US (17%); Norway (11%)
l Indian parents, regret was caused by: had a tantrum during the flight (45%), cried/made noise most of the flight/disturbing other passengers (39%), child made a mess with vomit or otherwise did not make it to the bathroom successfully (39%), yelled at a passenger or flight attendant (36%)
l Parents just don’t enjoy family vacations with their children
l Parents say they don’t enjoy traveling with their children on vacation - Hong Kong (47%); Taiwan (40%); India; Singapore and United States (26%); France; Netherlands (25%); Germany; Austria; Ireland (21%)
l Parents booked the accommodation that did not have a separate sleeping area for children - Japan (60%); Sweden (41%); South Korea (37%); United States and India (35%); Norway (34%)
Fun part of traveling with Children
Parents say they let some of the rules and chores go when on family vacation with their children.
l Parents are relaxed in letting some of the rules and chores go while on family vacation - India (63%), Thailand (57%); Malaysia (56%); New Zealand (55%); Singapore (54%)
l Parents agree that their holidays are more active and focused on kids’ activities than before they had children.
l Parents say that vacations are more active and kid focused - Germany (93%), Taiwan (92%); Ireland (91%); India and Austria (90%).