family tour meaning

Trends in family tourism

Journal of Tourism Futures

ISSN : 2055-5911

Article publication date: 16 March 2015

Families represent a large and growing market for the tourism industry. Family tourism is driven by the increasing importance placed on promoting family togetherness, keeping family bonds alive and creating family memories. Predictions for the future of family travel are shaped by changes in demography and social structures. With global mobility families are increasingly geographically dispersed and new family markets are emerging. The purpose of this paper is to discuss the trends that shape the understanding of families and family tourism.

Design/methodology/approach

This paper examines ten trends that the authors as experts in the field identify of importance and significance for the future of family tourism.

What emerges is that the future of family tourism lies in capturing the increasing heterogeneity, fluidity and mobility of the family market.

Originality/value

The paper contributes to the understanding about the changes taking place in family tourism and what it means to the tourism industry in the future.

Schänzel, H.A. and Yeoman, I. (2015), "Trends in family tourism", Journal of Tourism Futures , Vol. 1 No. 2, pp. 141-147. https://doi.org/10.1108/JTF-12-2014-0006

Emerald Group Publishing Limited

Copyright © 2015, Heike A. Schänzel and Ian Yeoman

This article is published under the Creative Commons Attribution (CC BY 4.0) licence. Anyone may reproduce, distribute, translate and create derivative works of this article (for both commercial & non-commercial purposes), subject to full attribution to the original publication and authors. The full terms of this licence may be seen at http://creativecommons.org/licences/by/4.0/legalcode

Introduction

Family travel is predicted to grow at a faster rate than all other forms of leisure travel, partly because it represents a way to reunite the family and for family members to spend time with each other, away from the demands of work ( Schänzel et al. , 2012 ). At the same time family tourism is phenomena shaped by changes in demography and social structures which are slow moving. These include higher rates of female participation in the labour market, higher divorce rates, rising and longer enrolment in tertiary education, growing numbers of elderly people, more foreign‐born members of the population, and so forth. As a consequence of demographic changes, the concept of the family unit might be in question. However from another perspective, family relations may in the future be reconfigured on new, more sustainable foundations. We may increasingly see networks of loosely connected family members from different marriages, partnerships and generations emerging, who devise fresh approaches to cohesion and solidarity. Growing better‐integrated ethnic communities may help to instil more positive family values (old and new) into mainstream society. Children and families form the closest and most important emotional bond in humans. This relationship is what drives humanity and society, and as such the family is the centre of human activity ( Yeoman, 2008 ). Families include single parents, blended families, involved fathers and same sex parentage. Families, like other market segments, seek travel destinations that offer relaxation, novelty, outdoor activities and arts and heritage sites. However, families are less likely than other segments to indulge in the local culture. Seeking destinations for relaxation is the largest differentiator for families compared to non‐families in Australia, the UK and the USA, whereas, shopping was the top holiday activity for families in China and Columbia ( Euromonitor, 2013 ). Then there are families without children.

Family tourism is one of the most important sectors of the tourism industry around the world and accounting for about 30 per cent of the leisure travel market ( Schänzel et al. , 2012 ). Looking to the future, what are the trends that will shape the future? This paper examines ten trends that the authors, who are experts in the field, identify of importance and significance for the future.

1. Changing family structures

Longevity and smaller core families have led to the family becoming more vertical rather than statically horizontal in form. Grandparents are enjoying more time with their grandchildren as they live longer. Consider the following; in 1960 the life expectancy of a UK woman was 73 and the mean age for giving birth was 27. Presently, the life expectancy for a woman is 81.9 and the age for giving birth is increasingly in their 30s. Present day grandparents can expect to enjoy several more years with their grandchildren than those of the 1960s ( Yeoman, 2012 ). The verticalisation of the family is apparent through more grandparents becoming involved in caring for their grandchildren. Where siblings within a larger family would have previously been responsible for baby – sitting duties, grandparents in the vertical family are now taking their place. As Briggs (2001) points out the prominence of these inter – generational relationships play a central role in the family network due to this verticalisation. Indeed, as people live to a greater age and childcare becomes more expensive we expect grandparents to continue to play an active role in their grandchildren's life.

2. Immigration

According to the World Bank, in 2010, more than 200 million people (or 3 per cent of the world's population) lived outside their country of birth. Of these, two out every five immigrants had moved from emerging and developing countries to developed countries. The growth in the number of residents living abroad has been beneficial to travel and tourism as people tend to return home to visit friends and family and vice versa. From the USA with 23 million foreigners to Saudi Arabia where 30 per cent of residents are non‐Saudis, there is no corner in the world that remains untouched by migration.

In 2009, 20% of Spanish departures were made to visit friends and relatives, according to the Institute of Tourism Studies. Roughly 7% of the Spanish population is of foreign origin, with Moroccans accounting for 19% of foreign citizens in the country. Germans, French and British are the next largest source countries, accounting for 8.7%, 7.0% and 6.6% of foreign citizens in 2010 .

According to the UK's Office for National Statistics, departures to visit friends and family accounted for 19.8% of UK departures in 2009, but only 13.9% of spending. In 2010, the percentage of outbound trips made to visit friends and relatives dropped to 19.4% due to the ongoing economic recession in the UK. Residents from India and Poland are the largest groups, with around 650,000 foreign citizens from each country living in the UK in 2010.

As we can see from these European statistics, Europe is a place without migration boundaries. As European Union citizens, people in the UK can take advantage of free movement and are resettling, often in the preferred destinations of Spain and France. Indeed, the landscape of the UK is changing as inbound migration has made London, for example, a melting pot of international inhabitants from a multitude of countries, anywhere from Poland to Somalia. Simply put, people no longer live next door to many of their family members.

3. Multi‐generational travel

Increasingly re‐connection holidays across generations become a way for extended families to spend valuable time together ( Butlins, 2012 ). A survey in the USA by Trip Advisor (2011) reveals that 37 per cent of respondents plan to take a multi‐generational family trip in that year. Today, an estimated 75 per cent of travellers plan their holiday around a milestone event such as a birthday, reunion, wedding or anniversary, and even a holiday, to bring family members together. Several demographic trends are behind this growth: migration, longevity and lower birth rates. Today most extended families live geographically apart and increasing longevity has led to stronger multi‐generational ties combined with smaller families ( OECD, 2008 ). Fewer children in society mean they become more important and the focus across generations. More baby boomers are becoming grandparents who are typically healthier, mobile and want to spend quality, fun time with their grandchildren. The trend is that with increased mobility inter‐generational re‐connection holidays allow geographically dispersed family members to bond and create lasting memories. It, thus, achieves multiple goals.

4. Social capital and creating memories

The social benefits of tourism for its participants have been identified for some time within family tourism as opportunities for bonding, communication and strengthening of relationships ( Carr, 2011 ; Shaw et al. , 2008 ). Holidays are often the only time the whole family spends together for an extended period without the distractions of work and school. Holidays then are considered a symbolic time out of the normal that warrants remembering and are used for generating social identities in family members. (Re)connecting social relations on holiday is behind the meaning of social capital construction here which make a valuable part in the social identity formation. Photographic images capturing these intimate and meaningful family interactions help in the creation of social identities through producing rather than reflecting family life ( Larsen, 2005 ). Family holidays then increasingly serve a purpose of integrating people through tourism and can be seen as a social practice that involves social capital formation and memory creation that becomes integral to social life.

5. Helicopter parents

The phenomenon known as helicopter parenting has become well and truly entrenched in the US cultural lexicon. Appearing first in the 1990s, the term is used to describe how some parents “hover” above the lives of their children, ready to swoop at a moment's notice to either intervene in their child's interest or contribute to key life – decisions traditionally taken independently by the young adult ( Yeoman, 2008 ; Fingerman et al. , 2012 ). From a business perspective, parents’ anxiousness means a level of reassurance, particularly from sources that can relate first‐hand experiences before they make the final decision. Parents will search different channels for recommendations, for example from www.tripadvisor.com or from friends and family. As the internet is an important source of information, tour operators and travel agents need to host online forums (where consumers exchange ideas and have a source of truthful information) and virtual tours of properties. All of this provides parents with reassurance in making a decision.

6. Experiential family holidays

The core product of tourism are the experiences gained ( Prentice et al. , 1998 ). For families the holiday experiences centre on spending time “with” the family doing fun activities that are different to normal and which create positive memories ( Schänzel et al. , 2012 ; Shaw et al. , 2008 ). International holidays are perceived as offering more novel or grander experiences than those closer to home. The propensity for overseas holidays generally increases with the age of the children, as families with older children seek more exotic or grander experiences ( Blichfeldt, 2007 ). In affluent societies about 90 per cent of people agreed in a survey that luxury for them meant time for themselves and with their family, and family holidays topped the list ( Visa, 2013 ). Life is then about sharing great experiences for those who can afford it. Families are also increasingly seeking adventure travel experiences. There is a trend towards families looking to be active together and having more authentic experiences on holiday.

7. Children as sophisticated consumers

Eager to grow up, today's children, like youngsters before them, are zealously trying to emulate the consumer habits of those older than them. Businesses have been quick to recognise that the growing distinction between children's ages is pronounced enough to warrant products and services specifically focused on those tweens who are aspiring to become more like teenagers and adults ( Yeoman et al. , 2012 ). Children have always had specific consumer needs. The difference today compared with earlier is perhaps that more and more products are targeting these tween needs from an earlier age. Whether we think this a blameworthy development or whether children are just evolving faster than before, something of a shrinking of childhood seems to have taken place. This phenomenon is often referred to as “age compression” or “children growing older younger”. In the 1960s, childhood was a distinct stage and it had been only roughly a decade since the world had discovered or invented the “teenager”. Today, children seem to adopt the habits and attitudes of what has so far been considered the teen domain at an earlier age than previously – hence the emergence of the “tween” (preadolescence, that is, the stage between middle childhood and adolescence in human development, in the range of 8‐12 years old). There can be no doubt that the concepts of both “childhood” and “youth” are being redefined and that, as consumers, today's kids are very different and do not hesitate to use “pester power” if needed ( Euromonitor, 2014a, b ).

8. Blended families

There is recognition that the definition of family has changed, to the effect that most refer to “families” rather than the “family”, in that different family members are likely to perceive the composition of their families in different ways ( Dumon, 1997 ). This is reflective of the decline of the nuclear family, increasing divorce rates and the rise of reconstituted or blended families. While families are separating through divorce, people are forming new families, while often still being networked to their old ones through their children. Social, as opposed to biological, parenting is an increasing phenomenon in family life. More and more men and women raise children who are not biologically their own. This has implications on family holiday behaviour with more complicated travel arrangements needed and presenting different family group dynamics. There is also a trend towards children from divorced households getting extra and more enticing holidays with their respective blended families as each parent tries to out trump the other.

9. New family markets

As world travel continues to grow, fundamentally driven by the increased wealth from markets such as Brazil, Russia, India and China (BRIC). New tourists see new places, whether travelling as individuals, groups or families. In China, family tourism in 2013 represented 23.9 per cent of all international arrivals. With rising disposable incomes and the improving living standards of Chinese consumers, domestic leisure tourism was welcomed by Chinese consumers and registered healthy growth of 12 per cent in 2013 in terms of the number of trips ( Euromonitor, 2014a ). India, like other countries is seeing the emergence of a wealthy middle class who see travel as the new luxury shaped by a desire for new experiences and new destinations. Due to the relative low price package, holidays are very popular amongst Indian families with domestic destinations such as Kerala, Puri and Madhya Mahal the most popular holiday spots. Yeoman (2012) points out that as wealth increases the families of India and China become the new family markets for the Disneylands of Paris, Los Angeles and Toyko. The future of world tourism will be shaped by these and other emerging markets.

The continuing change in gender roles and parenting behaviour can have significant influences on family holiday experiences. In contemporary society, both mothers and fathers are expected to embrace more equal responsibilities at home and with childcare. These societal changes have led to intensive mothering ( Arendell, 2000 ) and involved fathering ( Kay, 2009 ), implying a more concerted and time consuming effort in raising fewer children than in previous generations. This implies that the traditional roles of parents are extended to encompass a wider variety of parental behaviour towards children on holidays. Increasingly this involves resistance to traditional parental discourses, such as snowboarding mums ( Spowart et al. , 2008 ) and shopping tour dads. Fathers become more actively involved with their children in sport, leisure and on holiday, as entertainers and educators ( Schänzel and Smith, 2011 ). Females represent the fastest growing demographic participating in physically demanding leisure pursuits which are typically viewed as male‐dominated domains ( Roster, 2007 ). In the future, gender constructs will become more diversified not just for parents but also for the children and centre more on having active fun together no matter what the activity.

Conclusions

Families play an important role for the tourism industry despite the demise of traditional family models. There is a myth of the decline of the family when in fact families today are just differently connected than previously. Families can range from a minimum of two (single parent with one child) to multi‐generational families (any number of adults and children) and increasingly move away from traditional family sizes and gender orientations (two heterosexual parents and two children). Holidays can play an important role in strengthening family relationships and building of social and family capital within the immediate and extended family by overcoming increasing mobility issues. Family travel and visiting of friends and relatives (VFR) travel then are more resilient than other forms of tourism, as people will always travel to reconnect. There are new family tourism markets emerging and traditional family markets are venturing further and becoming more adventurous. This means that the tourism industry needs to better cater to this increasing diversity of the family market in the future.

The tourism industry also requires better understandings of the complex purchasing decisions as families are becoming more democratic and destination choice and holiday activities are discussed among all family members, including children. However, children cannot be considered as a homogenous group and age can be a big differentiator as toddlers have very different requirements to teenagers. This should lead to more creative and innovative marketing campaigns that engage the young tourists at their appropriate ages, especially as they are the next generation of tourists. Investing into the travelling children of today then will shape the future of tourism. If the tourism industry gets it right and minimises inconveniences and conflicts for families through better planning, success will follow as the family market is economically substantial and predicted to grow in the future. Increased life expectancy, shifting grandparent and parental roles and more emphasis placed on fewer children will fuel that demand. While the focus on holiday is on relaxation and engaging in novel family activities to create happy memories, it is just as important to ensure children can have fun in safe environments while the rest of the family can pursue their own interests. The future of family tourism then lies in capturing the diverse needs of children and adults of different ages, from diverse ethnic backgrounds and with diverse family structures. The trends then point towards increasing heterogeneity, fluidity and mobility in families who travel in the future.

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Carr, N. ( 2011 ), Children's and Families’ Holiday Experiences , Routledge , London and New York, NY .

Dumon, W. ( 1997 ), “ The situation of families in Western Europe: a sociological perspective ”, in Dreman, S. (Ed.), The Family on the Threshold of the 21st Century , Lawrence Erlbaum Associates , London , pp. 181 - 200 .

Euromonitor ( 2010 ), “ Diaspora tourism: travelling to see friends and family ”, available at: www.portal.euromonitor.com.helicon.vuw.ac.nz/portal/analysis/tab (accessed 10 November 2014).

Euromonitor ( 2013 ), “ Family vacations ”, available at: www.portal.euromonitor.com.helicon.vuw.ac.nz/portal/analysis/tab (accessed 10 November 2014).

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OECD ( 2008 ), The Future of the Family to 2030 -A Scoping Report , OECD International Futures Programme , Paris .

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Roster, C.A. ( 2007 ), “ ‘Girl power’ and participation in macho recreation: the case of female Harley Riders ”, Leisure Sciences , Vol. 29 No. 5 , pp. 443 - 61 .

Schänzel, H. , Yeoman, I. and Backer, E. (Eds) ( 2012 ), Family Tourism: Multidisciplinary Perspectives , Channel View , Bristol .

Schänzel, H.A. and Smith, K.A. ( 2011 ), “ The absence of fatherhood: achieving true gender scholarship in family tourism research ”, Annals of Leisure Research , Vol. 14 Nos 2‐3 , pp. 129 - 40 .

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Further reading

Backer, E. and Schänzel, H. ( 2013 ), “ Family holidays – vacation or obli‐cation? ”, Tourism Recreation Research , Vol. 38 No. 2 , pp. 159 - 73 .

Obrador, P. ( 2012 ), “ The place of the family in tourism research: domesticity and thick sociality by the pool ”, Annals of Tourism Research , Vol. 39 No. 1 , pp. 401 - 20 .

Office of National Statistics ( 2013 ), Family Spending , Office of National Statistics , Newport , available at: www.statistics.gov.uk/downloads/theme_social/familyspending2013.pdf (accessed 22 November 2014).

Schänzel, H.A. and Smith, K.A. ( 2014 ), “ The socialization of families away from home: group dynamics and family functioning on holiday ”, Leisure Sciences , Vol. 36 No. 2 , pp. 126 - 43 .

About the authors

Dr Heike A. Schänzel is an expert in family tourism having completed a PhD on this topic at the Victoria University of Wellington and now resides at the Auckland University of Technology (New Zealand).

Dr Ian Yeoman is a Specialist Tourism Futurologist who believes in Star Trek, an eternal optimist, is Sunderland AFC mad and enjoys cooking. Ian is a Trainee Professor at the Victoria University of Wellington (New Zealand) who is studying towards a higher Doctorate.

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Family Travel (How, Why, Where!)

Family travel has many aspects that we’ll explore here. We’ll give you a guide to successful family travel while discussing the pros and cons and deeper aspects of travel with your family. Why is family travel important? What makes family travel different? What are the best family travel destinations, activities and hotels? Also, what about the ages of your children? How will that affect your family travel? Are you travelling with babies, toddlers, teens, tweens, maybe grandparents? Multi-generational travel is growing in popularity.

We here at World Travel Family travel blog think family travel is hugely important, so important that we made it our full-time priority for most of our kids’ childhoods.

We’d like to explore that enthusiasm and share it with you, as well as giving you a few tips and ideas on family travel, vacations or holidays, for all ages.

Family Travel

Family travel, it’s great for connecting generations, broadening minds, becoming more present and really getting to know ourselves and our families.

When else do we have time to really connect free of rush, pressures and things that just have to be done. It’s also a lot of fun, or can be, done right.

All this, plus the excitement and learning opportunities of a new destination, plus some relaxation, if that is your need.

This post may contain affiliate links from which we may profit. It doesn’t yet, but I may add some!

Family Travel Guide

Family travel planning starts the moment the idea of a trip, short or long, pops into mum or dad’s head.

That idea will likely arise while you still have a small baby in arms!

Before you book your family trip think long and hard. Think about safety at your destination. Children, particularly toddlers, have a knack for getting themselves in the way of danger.

Consider availability of medical care. Think about climate, will your child enjoy extremes of temperature? How will family travel change what you as an adult can actually do while travelling?

Adjust expectations accordingly.

It’s important to consider the needs of every member of the family because each one of your family is an individual with different likes and dislikes.

Will everyone find something to enjoy in your proposed destination?

Will your destination, accommodation, and travel style suit everyone’s ideas of what family travel should be? Does half of the family not mind staying in a hostel , the other half want luxury?

There may be compromises needed!

Getting the children interested and involved in your family travel ideas and planning can help them enjoy the experience more. Take their thoughts and suggestions on-board, don’t dismiss them.

Family Travel Styles

The majority of our family travel experience has been backpacker-style. Backpacking with kids is little different really to adult backpacker travel, you just have to make a few adjustments to suit the kids.

There are many styles of travel that are absolutely fine for family travel including the following.

• Cruising is great with kids, but pick a cruise line with good family facilities.
• Slow travel, staying months in one place, and exploring deeply is a family travel favourite. It saves money on getting around but you could run out of things to do. This is popular with some nomadic families. (Read what is a nomadic family here)
• Camping, caravaning, and RV travel are much loved by families and lovers of the great outdoors and self-catering.
• Luxury resort stays are great for families too, but pick one that is family-friendly, family rooms, kids’ clubs, easy food and play all help.
• Villa and apartment rentals also work for families. These often allow for larger families and again, self-catering saves you money and helps placate any fussy eaters.
• Domestic travel
• International travel
• Exotic locations
• Adventure travel
• Family group tours
• Staycations , Can a staycation be travel? We think so, if you explore new places very close to home. During lockdown we did this and saw some places we never would have seen otherwise. You can even book into a hotel in your home, or nearby town. See a place through the eyes of a tourist, or child, you may find it sparks fresh joy.

Preparing for Family Travel

Before you leave home make sure your whole family is ready for what’s about to happen.

Some kids, especially if you have special needs children, can be extremely anxious at the process of travelling and of being somewhere other than home. Hopefully, you’ll be OK!

Be certain to have everything in place to run smoothly. Check your passports have at least 6 months left on them. Be certain you have the correct visas, have back-up cash and spare credit cards.

Split cash between different members of the family and stash it in different places to dodge thieves. You may find an anti-theft travel bag useful, particularly for airport days and in cities.

You should have checked for any required travel vaccinations and be aware of health hazards.

For instance, do you need to worry about Dengue or malaria? Have you seen our post on tips for avoiding mosquitoes?

Be certain you have clothes suitable to your destination, in terms of climate and culture, and everything your children may need immediately on arrival.

That includes their favourite book, bear, blankie, and a simple medical kit. For teens make sure their phones and Kindles are charged and you have spare battery packs. These can be lifesavers on long bus journeys or flights.

Be certain to book an airline meal that suits everyone. You can request meals for vegetarians, vegans, intollerances, allergies, and religious requirements. I always order Hindu vegetarian, which gets me some funny looks!

Consider paying the extra to reserve seats all together if this is likely to be an issue.

If your journey is long and your airline, bus, train, or boat won’t be providing food, consider taking familiar favourite snacks or sandwiches. With small children some wipes, plastic bags and a change of clothes helps too!

Of course with babies there is far more to think about.

Are you well equipped with nappies and bottles? Breastfeeding is easier in many ways but is it culturally appropriate where you’re going? Will you be able to buy the formula or foods your baby needs at your destination?

If travelling with a baby, be certain mum gets a holiday too!

Packing For Family Travel

We find travelling lite makes for easier travel days, but not having everything you need and running out of clean clothes causes travel stress too.

It’s a fine balancing act and much will depend on where you’re going and what sort of dress and equipment is needed.

Do you need to rush out and buy all sorts of family travel gear ? Not necessarily, but I’d strongly advise you to take a look at our post on travel essentials .

Do you think any of these items will be essentials for you too? If so, buy them. It’s better to be safe than sorry.

Family Travel Safety Tips

When you’re travelling as a family, always have a plan. What would you do if x happened? These plans have been our constant companions as we travelled the world as a family.

What do you do if you get lost? What do you do if the fire alarm goes off? What do you do if, heaven forbid, you fall overboard? Drill these things into your kids.

Do what I call a “Mommy risk assessment” of any accommodation. Spot the hazards before your kids find them for you.

These family travel hazards include steps, stairs, balconies, glass, dodgy electrical sockets and slippery floors. If possible, do this risk assessment before you book.

Also, be mindful of noise, you all need to get some sleep.

Tricks For Enjoying Family Travel

Allow plenty of downtime. Everyone needs to decompress, relax, nap, use their phones or maybe just take a little break from one another. Also allow plenty of treats, ice cream works well as a sweetener.

Be certain to do the things that everyone enjoys. If one child adores swimming, the other skiing, you may find you need to take two separate family trips!

Try to compromise just as you do with your partner. Keep the art gallery visits a little shorter, build in more playground time, take a bus when adults could walk further. Just moderate slightly to make sure every member of the family is having a good time.

Family Travel Further Reading

That’s it for now, a short introduction to the world of family travel. I’ve been a travel blogger for almost 10 years now, a family traveller for almost 18 years. My kids have travelled with me from birth to older teens, to over 50 countries. It has been wonderful and we highly recommend taking your children travelling. Is there anything else we can help you with? Put it in the comments.

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A Family Travel Tour: The Why & How of Group Travel

Sharing is caring!

What comes to mind when you think about taking a tour? A flag carrying leader moving you from massive buses to cheesy tourist attractions leaving you feeling like herded cattle?

While this does still exist, these days there are a ton of amazing family travel tour options focusing on adventures for the whole family that are worth investigating.

My travel style has always been staunchly independent. I enjoy the excitement of exploring off the beaten path locations as much as the difficulties of being lost or trying to find my way around a city.

However now with a child, I find that I don’t always have the time or flexibility to be as independent. And while historically, I’ve not been a fan of tours, I have found myself moving towards family travel tours more and more these days. With an only child, it’s become apparent my son enjoys traveling with other families as a way to have instant playmates and to share his travel experience with a peer.

This summer I set out to explore what it means to travel on a family focused tour with two different companies in two different parts of the world. One was organized through a small local company on the Amazon River in Brazil orchestrated through Our Whole Village which is part agent part operator. The other was through the large international tour operator, Intrepid Travel .

Jump to a Heading Below

Why Take A Family Travel Tour?

If you are an independent traveler like me, you might think ‘Why would I need or even want to take a tour?’. I hear you. I often feel the same. I always think I can plan the same trip on my own at a similar expense. While this may be true, the reasons for taking a family tour are many.

Get Off the Beaten Path

I have found that tours are great for families who want to get off the beaten path, but with the security of being taken care of by locals who know the ways of the country and can help guide you through.

Often times taking a tour with your kids helps to expand boundaries, giving you access to experiences you might not have otherwise. On our recent trip to Borneo, we probably would not have looked to stay in a traditional long house had we not been part of a tour. It was a unique look into the culture that the kids really enjoyed.

It’s Less Work

Taking a tour brings back a sense of vacation even with an adventurous trip. As the travel CEO of the family, constant planning and organizing of details can be exhausting. Participating in a tour means that you can actually enjoy more of the adventure rather than worrying about where you will eat for dinner.

Once you are past researching what tour to take, your work is mostly finished, making a tour a much more hassle free option for busy families.

Instant Friends

Most importantly for many families, taking a family tour means that your kids have instant playmates. This is one of the biggest reasons we look at doing tours. While my son loves traveling with me, he has gotten to the age that he really does miss having social interactions with other kids while we travel. Being on a tour provides those opportunities for him.

Traveling on a tour It also allows him to connect with kids from other countries and kids who have similar values and lifestyles as he does. While he is often the anomaly having traveled to so many countries, these are also kids who enjoy travel and like to talk about all the places they have been.

Delve Deeper into Local Cultures

Tours also help children (and adults) delve deeper into the culture by explaining the different customs, foods and dress.

Additionally, as my child asks more and more questions that I don’t have the answers to, having a local guide comes in handy.  Rather than turning to me for all the answers, my son has someone else to pepper with questions!

Have Assistance in Case of Emergencies

If you are traveling either solo with your kids or as a family, one worry is what to do if someone gets sick or hurt. Being part of a tour helps alleviate some of that stress. You have a local with you who can assess whether something is doctor worthy as well as help you navigate the medical system if needed. On our recent trip to Borneo when my son was sick in the middle of the night in the jungle, it was helpful to have someone help me help my son.

What to Look for in a Tour Company?

When looking for a family tour operator there are a number of things to keep in mind. One of the first questions to ask is whether you want to go with a local operator or with an international company. Having just experienced both options, I will say there are benefits to both. Companies like Our Whole Village explore regions all over the world seeking out unique family friendly travel opportunities that work with local operators, but their tour dates and destinations are more limited as opposed to international companies who offer a broader range of tours and dates all over the world.

When I am looking at a tour company, the things I look for are:

• Opportunities for authentic experiences – Does the tour provide opportunities for your family to really get into the local culture? Do you get to stay in unique places or do interesting things?
• Family focused activities – Does the tour take into account that kids also have the need to process travel in their own ways? For example activities like arts and crafts from the local culture, time to swim, etc.
• Good organization – Is the tour well organized? Do they provide you with all the pertinent information you will need to prepare and pack for the trip?
• Unique itineraries that take you off the beaten path – Does the tour take you to places that you couldn’t easily do on your own? Do you get away from the big tourist traps to experience the country in different ways?
• Travel style that matches your expectations – Does the tour match your style of travel? If you are accustomed to 5 star travel, find tours that use high level accommodation options.
• Itineraries that provide down time for kids to be kids – Make sure the itinerary does not pack too much into each day so that kids can have time to relax or run around.
• Record of safety – Does the company have a focus on safety of its groups? Do they use local companies that focus on safety?
• Eco friendly with a focus on sustainable travel – Does the tour company use sustainable and local friendly options for transportation? Do they give back to the local communities? Do they embrace environmentally friendly practices?
• Small group sizes – This is a big one for me. If you want to experience life in another culture you need to be able to be close to the ground which cannot be achieved when traveling with large groups. Stick to groups with 20 people or less.
• Know in advance what is included and what is not. Some tours are all inclusive, while some provide more flexibility for meals and/or optional activities. Make sure you know what you will be responsible for.

It will be important for you to figure out what things are important for you on your trip. For some it may be luxury accommodations while for others it may be plenty of downtime.

Our favorite family travel companies are Intrepid Travel , Thompson Family Tours and Our Whole Village , but there are plenty more out there! Check out all these amazing international family tours you should think about for this year!

How to Get the Most Out of a Tour

• Be prepared to go with the flow . Things don’t always go the way you think, it’s important to be flexible and willing to go with the flow.
• Prepare the kids on the type of foods  that will be served and/or come with plenty of snacks to supplement when needed.
• Research about your trip before going to set expectations on the type of accommodation offered and what you will be doing.
• Pack accordingly – and lightly if possible!
• Take time out for yourself and family when you feel tensions increase with the other families – it always happens!

Are there negatives for taking a family tour?

For me the only negatives of doing a family tour is not having the flexibility to do what you want when you want. Sometimes as an independent traveler you miss being able to just stay in a place longer or just take time to explore as you wish.

However I really believe that the benefits of having a knowledgeable local who can teach you and your kids all about the destination outweigh the negatives of not getting to do it exactly as you want.

The trick is finding an operator who wholly understands the needs of family travelers, aligns with what you hope to get out of the experience and hires quality staff.

After our two recent experiences, albeit both very different, with family focused tours I have to say we are totally sold! My son absolutely adored having other kids to play with. It also helped push him from his comfort zone at times. For me, it gave me a much needed break from always being the travel CEO of the family! It also helped me hone in on what I do find important in travel and what I want to share with my son.

What do you think about the idea of family travel tours? Would you take one?

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5 thoughts on “A Family Travel Tour: The Why & How of Group Travel”

Like anything, independent travel versus “tour groups” depends on personal variables. It’s great that some look to immerse themselves in culture and all that for an extended period, maybe go a little native. And then there are travelers just wanting to visit a place (anyplace different than their backyard) to simply see and “experience” the place, buy some souvenirs and take pictures. (Of course, there are many shades of travel in between.)

For most people, especially novices, the organization of a good tour is in their best interests. They are able to travel to wherever with no trepidation about language, accommodations, or transportation. It’s broader brush, they see “more” in their time because tour travel is generally far more efficient. It can also be much more cost-effective.

Four of us “elders” recently completed a 77-day ’round the world trip through eleven countries that combined independent travel with tours. Using tours made logistics much simpler, and we certainly have no “regrets”. Tours were almost a vacation from our independent roaming. In each tour we had competent guides, excellent support along the way, and very nice accommodations at a price we couldn’t match ourselves. (Some may scoff, that’s not real travel. Okay. It was real enough for me.)

We also took our grandkids to Spain just before Christmas. No tour, but we arranged our “flash sale” trip through a company that packaged air, hotel and inter-city transfers for a price far less than economy airfare alone. Our granddaughters (ages 3 and 5) loved it – and found plenty of local playmates in the parks, the zoo and the Christmas markets. (What language barrier?) They weren’t there for anything but fun, and they found it wherever they looked. They still talk fondly of the giant cotton candy they shared in Barcelona. Meanwhile, the adults enjoyed their sightseeing, too.

My point, I suppose, is that travel is what it is. Enjoy it while you can, regardless of its packaging, or lack thereof. Those go-go years become no-go very quickly for a variety of reasons. And don’t discount “tours” as a way to get out there, even on a budget.

For those with families a family vacation or tour is a great way to bond with loved ones. Also i think the memories are priceless.

Thanks for sharing these tips… it is useful to those who are traveling with their kids.

Hello Kkowen, Very well informative and in-depth post on group travel. Considering the risk factor I think taking a travel company service is a good option for group travel. Thanks for covering the important facts all together.

This is amazing! Absolutely great tips. I LOVE your photos from Fort Myers Beach– incredible

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What is a "FAM" and why are they so important?

A familiarization trip, or FAM for short, is a trip designed for travel advisors to learn about a destination, a partner travel company, or an airline, and sometimes, all of the above.  

While I can discuss unique experiences, boutique hotels, and level of service with our partners over the phone, on webinars, and at trade shows, nothing compares to experiencing firsthand both a destination and the level of service offered by a specific partner. 

In the last year, I have accepted opportunities to travel to Jordan with G Adventures, to the Canadian Rockies with Rocky Mountaineer, and to Bora Bora with Marriott’s Luxury Hotels. Next Spring, I will travel to Colombia with Big 5 Tours & Expeditions.

Our FAM with Rocky Mountaineer in the Canadian Rockies

Experiencing travel with a specific travel partner is important because, with every destination, we as travel advisors usually have multiple options as to who we can work with. Each partner offers unique experiences, a variety of hotel partnerships, and different areas of specialization. Some partners focus solely on one region of the world while others operate around the world in many countries and come with a very recognizable brand. Some partners specialize in active and adventure travel whereas others might cater more towards families with young children. Finally, each travel partner works within a different budget range.  Some partners are best suited toward high-end luxury travel while other partners are able to cater to a variety of travel budgets. 

I often talk about the 1-million piece puzzle that we as travel advisors assemble when crafting each unique itinerary.  Matching a client and their preferences to a specific travel partner that caters to both their style of travel and their budget expectations is one of the biggest pieces of this puzzle.

Our FAM with G Adventures in Jordan

So, what do travel advisors do on these FAMs?  

A large focus of the FAM is to experience a destination or a product just as our clients would. That means that we visit the sites, we meet the guides, we ride the buses, and we stay in the hotel rooms, just as our clients will when they book that particular trip. This is important because it enables us to then return home and talk to our clients about our trip and to help manage expectations.   

These opportunities enable us to return home to tell some clients "You will love this!" while we tell others "You know, maybe this isn't right for the trip you're envisioning, and this is why....Let's try this instead." Each trip you go on comes with a large investment, both in your time and money.  These FAM opportunities aid us immensely to make sure we're utilizing your investment in the best way possible. 

Throughout each trip, we also visit hotels to see the properties and to meet the General Manager and the sales team with whom we’ll be in contact prior to a client's arrival.  They take us around the entire property to see different room categories, the restaurants, the spa, and all unique features.  We'll also dine in one of the hotel's restaurants whenever possible.  When client's ask what the difference is between one room category and an upgraded option and if they should have dinner in the hotel or not, we can advise from personal experience. More often than not, we’ll visit a variety of hotels throughout our trip so that we have some points of comparison.  

The most important aspect in each familiarization trip is to build and maintain connections with our partners. This helps tremendously when we have special requests or unexpected challenges. 

Touring the St Regis Bora Bora by bicycle on our FAM with Marriott Luxury Brands.

Each FAM opportunity offers travel advisors insights into:  

Travel with a specific partner and which type of client will be best suited to their services

Travel to a specific destination and which type of client will be best suited to the experiences offered

Budget expectations for a specific destination

Which elements need to be considered when planning an overall budget

Returning home from each FAM experience, we are better able to identify the type of traveler that a specific travel partner’s service and expertise is best suited for. After traveling with G Adventures, I now have a great appreciation for how they are able to create small group itineraries around the world and how they make such an effort to immerse their travelers in each destination by employing local guides and including unique experiences and destinations. 

As much as I love G Adventures, their offering is not suitable for all travelers. 

Personal travel experience in a specific destination offers insights into what type of clients will be interested to visit this destination.  I was astounded at how fascinating Jordan was and how it offers such a rich and diverse cultural experience. Jordan is at the top of my list of favorite countries to which I’ve traveled. 

But as much as I love Jordan, this destination is not suitable for all travelers. 

FAM trips enable travel advisors to gain a deeper understanding of the tourism infrastructure in each destination.  Is it possible to work with a wide range of budgets? What does a 5* hotel look like in this destination and how does this compare to standards in the US or Europe? What type of budget should be allocated for activities, souvenirs, and taxis?  

Bora Bora is absolutely one of the most beautiful places on Earth, but it just won’t be possible to design an experience there with a small budget. 

Finally, FAM trips enable us to better understand the logistics of each destination. Will a rental car be necessary? Will private guides enhance the experience or can independent exploration be a suitable option? What budget should be allocated on a daily basis for meals?

We enjoyed spectacular meals throughout our journey in the Canadian Rockies. While less expensive meals can surely be found, it’s definitely worth considering a larger budget per day for top notch meals in Western Canada.

All these insights and more come with each opportunity to join a FAM.  Ask your travel advisor if they've traveled on a familiarization trip lately and what their thoughts were!

Never worked with a travel advisor before? To give you a little sneak peak into our world, we travel as often as possible to build relationships with travel professionals around the world. That way, when you tell us where you'd like to travel, we know exactly who we can work with to design a trip that is personal and unique to you!

Undiscovered Sunsets was a long time in the making, even if I myself didn’t realize it. During my time at the University of Northern Iowa, I studied abroad in New Zealand. Upon graduating, I bought a one-way ticket to France, lived with a French family and studied with classmates from Turkey, China, Russia, Germany, Italy, and everywhere in between. In 2010 I began teaching English as a foreign language. This job quickly took me to China, where English teachers were in high demand and within three years, I began working in a 5-star hotel, speaking Mandarin throughout most of my day. In total, I lived abroad for 7 years.

I consider Undiscovered Sunsets to be the perfect mélange of my personal experience traveling the world and my professional experience working in the hospitality industry.

I look forward to designing your next adventure!

10 reasons why you should design your next trip with a travel advisor

Everything you need to know to plan a trip to Jordan

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How to choose: Private guide vs Small Group vs Go it alone

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Our Top 10 Tips for Family Trip Planning: Plan a Trip for Different Ages and Interests

Hello Friends, Shani here! I often get asked how I plan a trip for my family. We have a wide range of ages and lots of different interests.  To be honest, sometimes it is hard and overwhelming! There have been times when each family member wants to do something different. Over the years I have found some things that really work for our family and help everyone have an enjoyable vacation experience. Read below to find out our  Top 10 Tips for Family Trip Planning  and how to implement them into your travel planning today!

Also, be prepared, I am spilling the beans about a humiliating “mom fail” (I promise my kids are well behaved – most of the time haha).

Table of Contents

Top 10 Tips for Family Trip Planning

Tip 1- plan.

So this might seem obvious but really, plan ahead.  We even plan our downtime.  When we don’t have a plan, precious time is wasted and frustrations flare.  If our family arrives without a plan, chances are we aren’t able to see the things we were hoping to see, eat where we want to eat, or visit the sites that are so high on our list of things to visit.  We have extended family members who poke fun at our travel itineraries (it’s all in jest), but it’s true; our itineraries are detailed, but we most often get to see what we want to see.  For us, planning is crucial.  

Tip 2 – KNOW YOUR GROUP  

Take into account the interests of the people in your group.  How do they like to vacation?  Is their idea of a perfect vacation sitting on the beach for a whole week under an umbrella with a drink in hand?  Are they active, history buffs or nature lovers?   

Knowing this important information about your group helps in planning a successful trip.  For example; I love a good beach vacation but I am only good on the beach or at the pool for a few hours each day and then I need something else to do. Knowing this helps us plan beach vacations that are balanced with some history or culture and then everyone is happy.  Planning to the interests of my group aids tremendously in having a successful trip.

Tip 3 – TAKE A POLL  

Ask the members of your group what specific activities they would like to participate in and what landmarks or sites they would like to see. This makes the trip something that each person can look forward to.  In our family, I always know that a round or two of golf for the guys is what will really make them happy.  I always consult with them to see which courses in the area they would like to play and try to make that happen for them.  Everyone wants to feel like they have a say and this helps to plan a well-rounded vacation.  Do your best to include everyone in the process.  It’s fun and gets everyone involved. We even ask the little one what he would like to do most!

Tip 4 – DON’T EXPECT TOO MUCH FROM CHILDREN 

I have learned over and over again that most often adults can have fun participating in children’s activities but children really struggle to have fun participating in adult activities. If you have children in the group, try to keep it friendly; maybe a reservation at a fancy restaurant with the whole group is not the best idea.  Trust me, we’ve been there. Even the most well-behaved children start to act up with they are starving, tired and then have to sit all proper. “Hangry” takes on a whole new meaning!

Parenting Restaurant Fail 101

Once after a long day of touring, we decided it was a great idea to go to a slow, romantic, very intimate, and upscale restaurant in Lake Como.  All of the diners were dressed up and quietly enjoying their dinner and in we waltz. A group of 6 Americans with 2 young children and a 2 teenagers. My youngest (Easton) was 5 at the time and was in NO mood to sit quietly and got bored (boredom is a recipe for disaster!). He gulped in some air and I knew what was coming – but it was TOO LATE – out came this loud b.u.r.p! Everybody immediately looked directly at us and then the entire restaurant went silent. It’s hilarious now, but at the moment… it was a pure nightmare!!

We also try and keep museum visits and other adult-oriented activities to a short time limit (or have a plan to split up the group to take the kids if needed). We also try to prepare the littles ones in advance about what we are doing and what to expect. There have been many times when half of the group stays in the museum for another hour or so and the other half goes, gets a snack, and feeds the birds outside. This really helps up the chances of a successful visit.

Tip 5 – DON’T EXPECT EVERYONE TO DO EVERYTHING

When we expect too much from everyone, we end up disappointed and frustrated.  It is much better to give the group some flexibility in what they want to participate in.  For example, let the person who has a tendency toward seasickness opt out of the water activity.  My family loves to jet-ski, everyone but ME that is.  I have tried it many times and I am scared of it.  LIKE SCARED.  We have figured out that we can plan a fun jet-ski excursion for everyone else in the group and I will stay back and have some one on one time with my grandson while the rest of them are going nuts out on the open water (YIKES, did I mention that I become a freaked out mess on a jet-ski?).  That works well and all are happy.  It makes life a lot more enjoyable for everyone.  

Tip 6 – CONSIDER A CRUISE OR ALL-INCLUSIVE RESORT

Cruises offer many different tours, excursions, and activities at varied times.  Maybe some want to sleep in while others want to photograph every sunrise.  Perhaps some would like to go on an organized excursion while others want to rest by the pool all day.  So Grandma and Grandpa want sushi for dinner but the little ones want chicken nuggets and fries? The point is, on a cruise or at an all-inclusive resort, there is flexibility and usually, more than enough for everyone to participate in.  This is a sure way to keep everyone happy.

Tip 7 – DON’T OVER PLAN

While it is crucial for my family to have a plan (as we have discussed above), I have also learned NOT to over plan.  It is sooooo easy to become overly ambitious.  Many times I have wondered when I was going to be able to re-visit a particular destination and have become so eager to “see everything” I have ended up over-planning.  In the end, it becomes a chore and everyone is so tired and overloaded it ends up not being a pleasant experience.  For us, traveling is about wandering, experiencing, and learning. It is more challenging to savor the moment when we are running from one attraction to another.

Tip 8 – SPACE

This is the number one suggestion we have for group travel.  In my experience, this is the  key to everyone getting along .  Everyone needs their space (especially the teenagers).  I try to make sure accommodations are adequate and to be mindful if someone’s nerves are wearing thin.  For us, trying to make sure that our accommodations are large enough for everyone to have space is worth every cent.

We know people who cram their entire group into a single hotel room. This is not for me. I love my kids, but boy do I need a break at times!  Not only is cramming people (usually) against hotel policy, for my family, it has the makings for a disaster.  We all need a place where we can retreat when we become annoyed/tired with each other (and the WILL happen while traveling) and need to decompress.  A time out from one another can be a good thing.

Tip 9 – MY 3 PLANNING HACKS

• If it is an active vacation, (ie Disney, Europe, etc.), I recommend spending two full days sightseeing followed by a day with lots of scheduled down time.  That way the group can gauge their energy levels and decide exactly what they are feeling up to.  Maybe a restful day sleeping in, or a day by the pool is just what is needed.
•  If you can help it, don’t follow a late night activity with an early morning activity.  I know it is sometimes unavoidable but it really makes a difference if everyone is well rested. We all need our rest.
•  Another thing I always like to do when planning a trip; especially if it is a heavy sightseeing trip like China or Europe is to leave the very last day of the trip open, with nothing planned.  That way if anything unexpected arises, or you would like to revisit a particular attraction there is time available to do it.  We have found this very effective.  More often than not, by the end of the trip people are tired and it is a good day to just rest a little, wander, linger and get off the beaten path a little more.  It’s a great way to wind up a trip.

Tip 10 – SEND OUT THE FINAL ITINERARY AHEAD OF TIME

When final plans have been made and the itinerary is in place (at least a few weeks before travel) I love to send out the itinerary to all parties involved.  That way everyone knows exactly what to expect.  Chances are that with a few weeks left before travel if changes or cancellations need to be made, there is still time.  It is also really exciting to sit together and go over an itinerary for an upcoming trip.  Everyone seems to get excited!!!  When we have traveled with a travel company (which we do sometimes), they always send out the final itinerary a month or so in advance for us to review.  I have found when planning our own trips (which we do most of the time), it is wise to follow this example.

These are a few of the suggestions we have for you after lots of travel experience and lots of trial and error.  Of course, in the end, follow your intuition and experiment with what works for your family! What works for one doesn’t always work for all and you know your family/group best :)!

Happy Travels!

*For some tips on how to prepare your little ones for an upcoming trip that will help ensure a fabulous vacation, read our 7 Ways to Prepare Your Little One For an Upcoming Trip here – Traveling with Kids .

AND,  subscribe to our newsletter to get your FREE #coloringtheworld starter kit and awesome family travel tips and itineraries!! 

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20 thoughts on “ Our Top 10 Tips for Family Trip Planning: Plan a Trip for Different Ages and Interests ”

Love reading your blog! Can you share an example of an old itinerary? I’m planning a group trip to Bali but I’m not the best planner and have undoubtedly not considered a few things. Thanks!

Thank you for reading! We would love to share an old itinerary. What a great idea! Contact us via the contact page and we can send one to you.

Best wishes, Bali sounds like a dream 🙂

It really can be quite difficult to plan the “perfect” family vacation; however, the article here gives some great advice on what you can do to make it great. I particularly like that the article encourages readers not to over-plan your vacation. After all, you want to make sure that you give your family some time to rest and to just explore the new places that they have found themselves in.

Thank you so much, Callum!

I want to take a family vacation this summer so thanks for these tips. I like your point about not over-planning everything. We’ll leave plenty of free time in our schedule in case we spontaneously want to do something else.

I love those three tips: take a poll, don’t expect much from children, and consider an all-inclusive resort (which we have)!

Starting to do most of these tips now. Most of my life I have been a solo traveler, now I got a wife so it turned into couple travels and now I got a three-year old daughter and another on the way, I am having to adjust my plans accordingly. Ugh but fun at the same time 🙂

Hiiii! Since I like to travel and I do often travel, the post was incredibly helpful! I had some problems with planning with my friends and family but now I learn to think ahead. Luckily for us, we vacate the same way lol! Thanks for the tips! May you have a good day!

It’s complicated enough to plan a trip for a solo traveler but your tips here can certainly help for anybody planning a family or group trip! Yes overplanning can happen and sometimes it’s good to have a little spontaneity on any trip; a little adventure here and there isn’t bad. Appreciate your planning hacks too!

These are great tips for planning family trips. Taking age and activity interests into consideration is key to a successful trip. I also like the idea of downtime and free time as well. Though we have no kids and we don’t typically travel with our parents, it is still important to take these tips into consideration for a great time.

This is actually terrific advice for traveling with groups, too. I’ve had that experience where people have radically different goals with a trip and when we were all forced to do everything together, it didn’t really work. I’m also with you about the beach/pool time. I’m good for a few hours top, but then I need to get up and start doing/seeing. It sounds like you have worked out a really great compromise with your itineraries and sending them out in advance has got to help. Thanks for posting!

These are great tips to help plan a family trip! You have to remember that there are so many styles of travel and ideas of vacation and none are wrong…just different! Love that you take a poll. Kind of ingenious to ask everyone there thoughts and ideas. Plus it gets everyone involved even if just a little so they have something to look forward to. I think maybe an 11th tip would be to not be afraid to “Divide & Conquer”! Since so many people travel differently, you can perhaps match up the active travelers with other actives and the loungers with the other loungers and they can have their own time to enjoy the adventure and come together later over a meal or event.

You’re completely right when you advise families to include some time for play and relaxation. With our family, we couldn’t pack the schedule so tight that there wasn’t time to stop at a playground or play in the hotel pool. The kids would have rebelled!

These are some very apt and cool tips. There are always some of the members who would not want to do things which others. So including choices also matter. I also like to plan. If not in detail then at least some activities. I really liked the idea of keeping the very last day of the trip open. Because we also do that. 😀

That is an important and quite informative post for the ones planning a group tour. I completely agree with Don’t over plan and if you are finishing late at night, don’t start early. Leave the last day open for everyone and for sure to send the detailed itinerary in advance.

Hi just wanted to leave an appreciation comment, as I was looking for some cool Travel stuff to read. I really enjoyed reading your blog. Keep up the good work. Thanks will look forward to more. Family Tour packages

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Thank you so much!!

Hi just wanted to leave an appreciation comment, as I was looking for some cool Travel stuff to read. I really enjoyed reading your blog. Keep up the good work. Thanks will look forward to more.

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20 New and Familiar Trends in Family Travel

Article By: Family Travel Consulting

Looking back on a year of climate crises and social turmoil, it is surprising that many of the family travel trends noted in the past continue to play out. Family, this huge segment of the leisure market, keeps getting bigger. There’s still an upswing in multigenerational travel including trips just for grandparents and grandchildren and families continue to focus more on learning and transformative trips centered around experiences.

For 2020, it’s the social trends that will influence how the travel industry caters to family customers. Let’s take a look at 20 areas to watch for signs on which way the market is heading.

The Family Market is still Huge

A 2018 Family Travel Association survey estimated families represented 30% of the total US travel market — 484 million overnight trips and 718 million daytrips. By 2019, several surveys affirm how much bigger the family travel market is, with 43% of adults surveyed having taken kids on vacation and parents planning to take an average 3.7 trips in 2020.

Travel Enhances Tasty Family Time

In an August 2019 survey of 6,000 families done by Trafalgar Tours , more than half of parents (64%) say that they spend the most quality time with their families while on vacation. Contrast this with findings in the Family Travel Association’s U.S. Family Travel Survey 2019 that only 45% of parents eligible for paid vacation time actually used it last year – for time off on their own, or with kids.

Less than one-third of parents surveyed by Trafalgar Tours had dinner with their family every night at home, with 39% of those blaming work for interrupting their family’s mealtime. On vacation, however, 67% of parents said they ate with their families nightly and 82% said that the children were more willing to try new and/or healthy foods while traveling. Experiences around food, such as tours, cooking classes and farmer’s markets continue to grow in interest.

Multigenerational Travel Still Rising

Millennial families (parents up to age 40) are the biggest market says research from   MMGYGlobal . They value travel, plan to take 4.2 trips in the year ahead and spend up to 9% more than last year. However, Gen X and Boomer travel plans are even more robust, with planned spending up 20% and 34% respectively. This may be due to the continued growth in multigenerational travel as Gen Xers become grandparents. MMGYGlobal says in the past 12 months, 44% of grandparents traveled with grandchildren up from 36% a year ago; 47% plan to do it in 2020.

SkipGen Travel Closes the Gap

In a Parents Magazine survey presented at the TMSNewark Family Travel conference, we learned about one of the travel industry’s newest buzzwords — skipgen – meaning a vacation that a grandparent and grandchild take without the middle generation present. Anecdotal evidence from travel agents suggests these are growing in popularity and AARP finds that 32% of grandparents surveyed have taken a vacation with just grandchildren. Booking.com’s 2020 Travel Predictions found 72% of grandparents agreed that travel with grandchildren makes them feel younger and 75% say it’s one of the best vacations they can have.

About 18% of parents and grandparents surveyed by the Family Travel Association said they are interested in taking a skipgen vacation in the near future.  In comparison, 74% of FTA responders are interested in taking a multigenerational trip – with parents along — in the next three years. Note this is much greater than the 47% interest rate found by MMGYGlobal among grandparents who had already done a multigenerational vacation!

They Made Me Do It!

Kids still exert a big influence on travel decisions. According to the JWT Intelligence Report , 81% of American millennial parents said the habits of their children influenced their last purchase and 27% said they asked their kids’ opinions before buying a new TV, laptop, tablet or phone.

When it comes to travel, even kids increasingly want new experiences. If given an extra $100 to spend on a trip, noted the 2019 Priceline Generation Poll , one in four respondents said they would spend it on “unique experiences,” the most cited option, rather than airfare or lodging.

What Parents Tell Parents Magazine They Want in a Hotel

Give us a swimming pool, crafts room or game room at our hotel said 70% of parents in the Parents Magazine survey. Remarkably, only 12% said they wanted a supervised kids club which, Parents editor Karen Cicero noted, affirms that families want to spend time together. Seven in 10 parents say they enjoy visiting a playground when they travel, ostensibly to connect with local parents.

Time Together and Time Apart

Kids’ supervised programs are still popular at all-inclusive resorts, insists Club Med , which just introduced a new Amazing Family program at resorts in Punta Cana and Cancun that emphasizes togetherness. Activities designed to share, facilitated by staff, include learning how to fly on a trapeze, play water volleyball, family yoga and more.

Interestingly, factors behind the surge in skip-gen travel according to Booking.com include the 71% of grandparents who believe parents need alone time without their kids.

Everyone’s Included on My Trip

Inclusion doesn’t only mean parents and kids playing together. The term may be loaded politically, but it is the hospitality industry’s tradition to welcome everyone. The LGBTQ market, including same sex couple families, is thriving with support from branded resorts, hotels, cruises, airlines and more.

For 2020, inclusivity also means continued growth in facilities and programs for travelers on the spectrum. Special waiting rooms for sensory-influenced kids and passengers have opened at the airport in Myrtle Beach, SC and at Pittsburgh International Airport. Many more businesses have been certified as “autism-friendly,” from waterparks to cruise ships and resorts including Beaches.

Carnival Cruise Line has become the first cruise operator to be certified “sensory inclusive” by KultureCity, a leading nonprofit organization dedicated to accessibility and inclusion for individuals with sensory needs and invisible disabilities. The rollout of the program started in October and all of Carnival Cruise Line’s South Florida-based ships are certified, with the balance of the fleet scheduled to be completed by March 2020.

The non-profit Morgan’s Wonderland in San Antonio, Texas, the world’s first theme park designed  for special-needs individuals, plans in 2020  to unveil Morgan’s Wonderland Sports, a competition and fitness complex for those with and without special needs as well as a summer camp.

The JWT Intelligence Report studied Generation Alpha (those born between 2010-2015) to gage the importance of inclusivity and what it means for gender. For today’s youth, Mattel has launched Creatable World Dolls, a line of mix and match body parts designed, they say, “to keep labels out and invite everyone in.”

Sustainability and Micro Mobility

In a new report from UNWTO and the International Transport Forum, transport-related emissions from tourism are expected to account for 5.3% of all man-made CO2 emissions by 2030, up from 5% in 2016. Yet, as flight shaming and demand for sustainable travel increases, young travelers look for mobility solutions at a destination. For many families and kids, it will be scooters or e-bikes, electric cars or more conventional public transportation.

According to a new report on European Mobility by Omio , Berlin has the most diverse and widespread, rentable inner-city mobility options. Second is Zurich for convenient public transportation. Cities that want to compete for family tourist dollars have to move beyond Uber to helping visitors get around.

Mindful and Conscious Travel Supports Those in Need

Booking.com says 2020 will see more conscious travelers eager to explore destinations undergoing recovery efforts following major setbacks. We saw the surge of interest in Puerto Rico last year and are seeing it for The Bahamas this year. There is also pop cultural interest in visiting Fukushima, Chernobyl and other places impacted by still hazardous events. We don’t see this as a family trend however; families remain risk-averse when it comes to their children.

Taking Home on the Road

When families travel, they bring home with them, so we look at trends in residential housing and toys. In the hot real estate market of New York, Zaha Hadid’s undulating condominium tower off The Highline stands out for its stunning interior playroom, Sandbox. No need for a bucket and shovel; this is a sophisticated makerspace (think 3D printers, motherboards, solar cells and littleBits components) staffed by a STEAM instructor.

Gregg Gushee, VP of real estate developer Related Companies , understands parents’ concern about excessive screen time. “This space is creating a community of makers, it’s not about high tech,” he says. A dad of three, he recalls their favorite vacation in Venice was an old school makerspace, a crafts room where the family made Carnivale masks together. Times change.

Technology at the Forefront

We’ll say it: Forget that unplugged vacation. Although both camping and outdoors recreation are trending among family vacationers, we see more technology enhancing experiences everywhere. Take, for example, the beautiful Atlantis Resort on Paradise Island, where sun, sand, the Caribbean and millions of sea creature entertain visitors. This resort has installed a remote-control car racetrack designed for all ages to race each other.

Go to Cleveland’s Great Lakes Science Center and borrow a pre-loaded iPad to try NASA’s Mission to STEM app instead of reading the labels. The Denver Museum of Science and Industry’s new exhibit, “Extreme Sports: Beyond Human Limits,” enables visitors to jump, fly, dive, climb, and explore some of the riskiest activities in the world inside the minds and bodies of extreme athletes. Today, it’s tech-forward to provide choice in learning.

Camping is More than Pitching Tents

The 2019 North American Camping Report sponsored by Kampgrounds of America reported 7 million new camping households since 2014. Not unplugged! KOAs have free WiFi; more than 30% of guests camp less than 50 miles from home. Campers are a far more diverse group these days — more diverse than those you might find in national parks near campgrounds. In 2018, new campers from multicultural backgrounds (22% Hispanic, 14% African American, 14% Asian) equaled Caucasian campers.

Another significant point: Camping isn’t just about pitching a tent. It’s about campgrounds like KOA’s that may offer cabins, pools and organized activities plus RVing and glamping. In the KOA 2019 North American Glamping Report , 30% of North American travelers say they have taken a glamping trip in the last two years and 64% agree it’s a unique outdoor experience, with cabins as the preferred accommodation.

According to the VRBO 2020 Trend  Report, 71% of millennial travelers say they would consider staying at a non-traditional vacation rental  from barns to tree houses to properties on wheels and on water. Travel demand for houseboats, yachts, RVs and Airstreams is up 30% year-over-year on Vrbo.

Hitting the Road the Way Grandparents Used To

RVs are no longer just for the retired, long road trips or for taking up a permanent spot in the driveway. Families are taking to RVing. Some 40 million Americans RV camp regularly, according to industry research from GoRVing , with adults ages 35- 54 the most likely to own an RV. RVshare , the peer-to-peer RV rental marketplace, released data in November that said interest in RV rentals has grown 650% since 2013. As families mature with the sharing economy they still want “live like a local” destinations. RVshare found that, in addition to Yellowstone, Yosemite and the Grand Canyon, renters expressed interest in off the beaten path places like Ginnie Springs, Florida, known for its seven natural springs and a five-star RV campsite.

Trends:  Bespoke and Private Trips

Heading outdoors without roughing it is why adventure companies including Backroads, OARS and Austin Adventures see increased demand for family trips, including those for families traveling with grown children. Convenience is another reason, as PhocusWright finds that 74% of families would also book travel with the OTA where they could plan all the details in one place.

They report a growing interest in private trips from families, whether a family wants to celebrate a 50th anniversary sailing on a Turkish gullet, go biking, explore Italy or visit a national park. Over the past five years, for example, Abercrombie & Kent has seen a 15% increase in multigenerational families (five or more guests) traveling on tailor-made itineraries with private guides. Italy is one of the most requested destinations, but China and Japan are also popular. Even Road Scholar , known for senior educational trips with expanded offerings for grandparents and grandchildren, offers private trips for groups of 12.

Travel is Less Affordable but Families Are Spending More

According to the Family Travel Association Survey , 77% of parent respondents traveled with their children in the past three years. However, only 70% are planning to travel with their children in the coming three years compared to a high of 93% who expressed this intention in 2016. Why? 82% of respondents say affordability is the culprit.

The State of Travel Insurance survey done by Berkshire Hathaway Travel Protection also predicts a slowdown in the rate of travel, yet 85% of Millennials with children said they spent more than $5,000 on travel in 2019 and almost 58% said they spent more than $10,000.

Cruises are Doing It All for Families

How do you build a cruise ship designed for younger families?  Take a page from Norwegian Encore , just named “Best New Ship of the Year for 2019” by Cruise Critic.

Built by Norwegian Cruise Line, the company that pioneered “freestyle dining,” she’s nearly 1,100 feet long and carries about 4,000. Yet, she’s so well designed that public spaces feel intimate because the crowds are dispersed across modular areas. There are 29 different food and beverage outlets including the buzz-worthy Onda by Scarpetta. Millennial pleasing touches include high-top tables and premium restaurants that appease foodies under 12 with a free kids’ menu.

Activities for kids who are dictating the choice of daily activities include the slick Galaxy Pavilion with clever VR games, for a fee. Innovations include a fast and fun go-kart track hanging out over the ship’s edge and a Romanesque laser tag course, both for a fee. The very elegant The Haven, an exclusive enclave of 80 deluxe staterooms for cruisers who cherish peace and privacy, has its own pool with a retractable roof plus an extra wide observation lounge to appeal to Alaska-goers. This is the bar where the ship’s top mixologist presides. Add in slick entertainment like the Broadway-caliber, Tony-winning musical “Kinky Boots,” and guest favorite revues set in an Irish pub or a Liverpool club and all ages stay busy at night.

Notice all of the extra charges for premium activities and food. The travel industry is teaching families – not in a good way — that it’s crucial to read the fine print to avoid an unexpected bill at the end of a trip. On the plus side, Norwegian is going sustainable. The ship has potable water coming from the bathroom tap and is the first Norwegian ship to be free of single use plastics. Try to catch this preview of the cruise industry’s future!

Americans Want to Travel Abroad

Families may be traveling less often but for those who can afford it, international travel is up. According to the MMGYGlobal survey , 38% of Americans took an international vacation in the past 12 months and 48% plan to take one in next 12 months. Europe, Caribbean and Canada top the wish list regions and Italy, England and France are the top countries travelers want to visit. Many families equate international travel with learning, educational or cultural opportunities, and eight in 10 (82%) said they travel for cuisine and customs while 67% told MMGYGlobal that’s why take family members when they travel internationally.

Secondary Cities Have Come into their Own

Second-city travel is on the rise says Booking.com 2020 Travel Predictions , which spotted traveler sentiment supporting destinations that both reduce overtourism and protect the local environment. Their survey found that 54% of all global travelers want to help reduce overtourism; 51% would go to a lesser known but similar destination if they knew it would have less of an environmental impact and 60% want more information about which communities would benefit from their visit.

That is evident in the Vrbo 2020 Trends Report with Cherry Log (Georgia), Bella Vista (Arkansas) and Terlingua (Texas) among the top five emerging domestic vacation destinations on Vrbo. Terlingua is a short hop to Big Bend National Park, Bella Vista is situated in the Ozarks and Cherry Log is in the heart of Chattahoochee National Forest.

We believe most families, however, will start their kids traveling at tried and true, overtouristy destinations. For now, it’s a vacation in Venice, Barcelona, Dubrovnik, Paris and Bali until overcrowding makes them untenable.

Where do Families Say They Want to Go?

Ask any prognosticator and you’ll get a different answer.   ASTA released its poll of travel agent members and found the top travel destination in the Caribbean was the Bahamas at 49%. The leader in Asia was Japan at 54% and in Europe, the U.K. at 49% with Italy ahead of France for second place. This rise in Italy’s popularity is also seen in the 2019 Teen Travel Trends Report recently done by Family Travel Forum.

The 2020 Virtuoso Luxe Report , an annual survey of the global luxury travel network’s 20,000 travel advisors around the world, looks at vacation experiences with a moneyed eye, often ahead of family trends. For 2020, they affirm Japan – site of the Tokyo Olympics July 24-August 9 — as a top destination. Australia, an African safari, world tour by private jet and expedition to Antarctica are also on their list. Interestingly, their clients also want to support the Bahamas as it recovers from Hurricane Dorian and transit the Panama Canal, now 138 years old, by cruise ship.

Among trending destinations, Parents Magazine noted that Tennessee, Nashville and Ireland were popular among readers.

Only to reaffirm that the family vacation market is as varied as families themselves.

Dear Reader: This page may contain affiliate links which may earn a commission if you click through and make a purchase. Our independent journalism is not influenced by any advertiser or commercial initiative unless it is clearly marked as sponsored content. As travel products change, please be sure to reconfirm all details and stay up to date with current events to ensure a safe and successful trip.

2 Replies to “20 New and Familiar Trends in Family Travel”

Great Read! Travelling with your family is one of the most exciting way to spend your holidays. If you are wondering where to travel next, here are some of the best vacation spots in the world.

Nice information thanks for sharing us.

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Why family travel is a great idea

Going on a family holiday can be expensive, take a lot of organising and scouring the internet to make sure everyone’s needs will be catered for.

You could be forgiven for allowing the thought, “why don’t we just give it a miss this year?” to cross your mind. But, here at Intrepid , we think it’s really important to take a family break, here’s why…

1. Travelling as a family brings you together.

Befriending sea lions in the Galapagos or white-water rafting in the Pyrenees , these are the precious memories that you’ll all laugh about around the dinner table for years to come. Kids grow up fast these days, getting more and more independent by the second, so making the most of these shared moments is vital.

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2. A break is good for the mind.

Taking a holiday from your usual family routine can save you all from a burnout. After your adventure, you’ll return to work and school feeling refreshed, relaxed and ready to take on the next chapter. Sticking to the norm year after year becomes monotonous and can even have a negative impact on your state of mind. Time to mix things up!

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3. Adventure is good for the body.

We’re not just talking about lazing on a beach for two weeks here. A family holiday is exactly what you make of it! In our day to day lives, we spend so much time sat still, this is the perfect opportunity to get active. Ride the rapids in Bali , zipline through the trees in Thailand , cycle around Croatia or snorkel along the Turkish coast .

READ MORE: 6 TECH-FREE FAMILY DESTINATIONS

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4. Holidays are educational.

You’re a stranger to this far-flung land, so go and explore. Meet the local people, tuck into regional delicacies, seek out traditions and learn something about the history of your destination. You could even give a new language a go! Sharing what you’ve learnt will increase your chances of remembering more too, as you each take in different aspects.

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Family travel with Intrepid is easy. Leave the logistics to us and we’ll arrange everything for you, from accommodation and activities to transport and transfers. Meaning all you’re left to worry about is packing the right kit, making sure your pets are taken care of whilst you’re away and having an incredible time together!

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What does “Family Friendly” travel really mean?

When choosing where to go on a vacation, the question often comes up: “is it family friendly?” Some will proudly announce “there’s no such thing!” They’ve taken their children everywhere and would have you believe that the kids can entertain themselves with nothing more than a pen and paper on a trans-atlantic flight.

There’s value in having a can-do attitude, but somewhere between the Disney cruise and the Parisian salon lies the answer for most.

When we were in Kauai , we stayed at the St. Regis for a couple of nights. They went out of their way to accommodate the kids, with welcome gifts, free-to-use sand toys, miniature bathrobes, miniature pool chaises—it was so nice. But on the other hand, there weren’t many kids there. The ambience was pretty quiet, the restaurants pretty fancy, and I gathered there were a few honeymooners among us.

Which quality is more important? The amenities or the atmosphere? How do you evaluate whether a place you’re choosing is family-friendly or not? Of course it completely depends on the kids’ ages, but I tend to have a few things on my mental checklist, and I was curious to ask friends and family what would be on theirs. Here are some things they had to say…

What makes a place family-friendly? 

In general… Other kids. By far and away, an expectation of children being present was the primary answer for everyone I asked. And I would echo that: In my example from Kauai, even if the other guests might not wish the kids’ presence on the chaise lounge next to them (not usually an issue, since they’d rather be down by the water), the big box of sand toys on display was a cue to everyone that kids are welcome. Kids were pictured in the advertising on their website and high chairs were visible at the restaurant. I feel like this makes a big difference—especially if other families actually are there, too! Even better? “A general tolerance of noise. We like not to be stared at when our kids fight over who pushes the elevator button.” In other words, a family-friendly place is often simply a place where other families are.

Limited travel required. This might mean to get to the destination in the first place, or it could mean limited travel -required once you arrive. But I’ve learned that most people anticipate that a “family-friendly vacation” requires very little time on planes, trains, and automobiles once you get there. “I am always on the look out for locations that require little to no loading in the car.”

Food they’ll eat. I’m always interested to learn what kids typically eat when they’re out. It can tell you a lot about what’s expected of them at restaurants. Are there full kids’ menus with crayons and all that? Does the kitchen simply offer a modified version of the adult menu? Is there no accommodation all? One friend mentioned that she values “restaurants with kid-friendly food that is affordable. It doesn’t have to be chicken nuggets, but small portions of non-spicy food is a plus.”

Space for play.  Almost everyone agreed that the more room to spend out of doors, the better. For families with young children, this meant that beach destinations came up frequently. But camping was also a suggestion: “We love camping in spots where we have no internet or phone service and can just focus on the family.” One friend had stayed at a family alumni camp in the woods: “Kids running wild in nature, building forts with camp counselors while parents sit and enjoy wine. Pools, hiking, kid activities. Family camp all the way.”

If staying a a big city, this might mean looking for neighborhoods with ample parks and playgrounds—or rentals with a shared courtyard . We love visiting Silverlake in Los Angeles, but it’s not the most family-friendly ‘hood. There are ample hip coffee spots, but playgrounds are not as easy to come by—we would drive to Griffith or Echo Park.

Relatively temperate.  Extreme heat or cold adds an extra challenge for anyone, but kids often have a particularly hard time dealing with being uncomfortable. Either extreme would probably keep a place off my “family-friendly” list if I had to hand one such list over.

At the hotel or rental…

Roomy accommodations.  Having a place for everyone to sleep comfortably, preferably two separate living spaces, can make all the difference. If a larger hotel room is too expensive, try searching a home rental site, like AirBnB or Kid & Coe. We often rent homes and look for ones owned by families in hopes that the space will already be child-proofed, offer a crib, or come with some toys (the best!).

Outdoor access.  Parents of babes who still nap will appreciate a balcony, a place to go and still enjoy a view: “Nothing worse than being held captive in a hotel room when your kids nap.”

On the other hand, one friend mentioned that she loves to seek out ground-floor units: These can eliminate the elevator-runs with the stroller and all the stuff. And they might mean a sliding door that your kids can run out in the morning to get some exercise. “Sometimes we feel claustrophobic in high hotel rooms with limited outdoor space. [At the beach,] you miss out on ocean views, but more than likely it’s a pretty garden view and not the parking lot. And most hotel’s ground floor rooms are cheaper than other units.”

Kitchens.  Even if it’s just a sink, a fridge, and a hot plate, traveling with kids is made much so much more pleasant when you can make your own cereal in the morning, and bring dinner in if a restaurant is a complete fail. “And keep the wine for mom.”

Lifeguards.  This actually had never occurred to us until last summer when we stayed at the Aulani , a Disney property on Oahu. At the pool, we noticed that older kids were given more free reign by parents who could actually relax. And even we, with little ones, appreciated the extra assurance. It’s not a necessary details, but it’s the sort of thing that can really add to a vacation’s quality.

And finally… 

Childcare.  Many hotels offer childcare on site or will help with finding childcare solutions.

What’s on your list? If a friend asks you if a place is family-friendly, which of these factors determines your answer? What have been your top “family-friendly” travel experiences?

P.S. Some of the most family-friendly places we’ve been (other than Hawaii ) were Bali —where everyone wanted to hold or entertain our baby; and Scandinavia —the playgrounds are legendary with reason. Paris , on the other hand…

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January 24, 2017

In Family , Parenting , Travel , Travel Tips

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Traveling with family is a great way to make lasting memories. Here’s why taking your family on a group tour is even better.

You can experience other cultures together Family tours will bring you closer together in ways you couldn’t imagine. There’s simply no better way to experience other traditions than with the people who created yours.

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While all of our tours are family friendly, Italy, England, France, Greece, and the U.S. National Parks are our most popular destinations for families. Here are a few family friendly vacations that we recommend:

• London, Paris & Rome: You can see the changing of the guards at Buckingham Palace, visit Versailles Palace, explore the Colosseum, and drool over delicious pizza and pasta together.
• The Greek Islands: Relax together in Mykonos, see the stunning coastline in Santorini, and learn all about the characters of Greek mythology like the Minotaur and Zeus.
• A City Stay tour: Live like locals. Our City Stay experiences offer families the chance to go at their own paces, while having access to a guide whenever they need it.

Read more about these three family friendly vacations .

When planning a trip with family, it can be hard to find a time that works for everyone. That ’ s why we offer a variety of week-long, escorted family tours, including:

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Any tours highlighted on this page are great tours for families. Some of our best family-friendly tours to Europe include:

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Uncover the world with National Geographic Family Journeys

Round up the family, grab your passports, and embark on an unforgettable adventure with National Geographic Family Journeys! Four new adventures have been added to this collection — and they’re calling your name.

WHAT MAKES FAMILY JOURNEYS UNIQUE?

Thoughtfully crafted itineraries that combine engaging experiences and leisure time designed specifically for families with children ages seven and up

Interactive activities inspired by National Geographic's expertise in photography and storytelling, wildlife, culture, history, and geography

Pre-departure resources and materials from National Geographic to inform and excite every member of the family about their upcoming adventure

Comfortable and convenient accommodations

Two dynamic CEOs (Chief Experience Officers) who are specially trained to engage with young travellers

Kid-friendly meal options throughout the trip

Dedicated customer service consultants, known as Family Trip Specialists, to help families with travel preparation and planning from the moment they book

A group of usually 20 or fewer like-minded family travellers

How will your family see the world?

Every trip features interactive activities inspired by National Geographic's unique legacy and expertise in photography and storytelling, wildlife and conservation, history and culture, and exploration.

1 Photography & Storytelling

Family Journeys illuminate the art of photography and storytelling in the great tradition of National Geographic. Customized National Geographic resources for kids and adults provide inspiration to see the world with new eyes, make real-world connections, and craft compelling travel tales during the trip.

On-Trip Experience:

• Kids and parents alike can enjoy custom resources from National Geographic built around photography and storytelling that will inspire them to chronicle their on-trip adventures and discoveries in new ways.

2 Wildlife & Conservation

National Geographic is committed to conservation and strives toward a planet in balance. On many Family Journeys, on-trip wildlife and conservation experiences will provide information and inspiration for travelers to remain engaged in wildlife conservation efforts long after returning home.

On-Trip Experience Examples:

• A thrilling safari ride in Kruger National Park on Southern Africa Family Journey
• Visit the Alaska SeaLife Center, which collaborates with National Geographic for wildlife initiatives on Alaska Family Journey

3 History & Culture

National Geographic celebrates the history and diversity of human life on Earth. Family Journeys reveal the richness of local cultures in its many forms, whether through language and music, art and architecture, cuisine, clothing, and more.

• Young travellers can try their hand at inventing a machine using tips from Leonardo da Vinci on France Family Journey
• Discover Roman gladiatorial history and authentic artifacts including shields, swords, and armor on Italy Family Journey

4 Exploration

National Geographic has a legendary legacy of exploration. Family Journeys seek to cultivate tomorrow’s explorers—people who are infinitely curious about our planet, committed to understanding it, and passionate about helping make it better

• Each Family Journeys itinerary features activities and experiences that inspire hands-on discovery, and a fun and interactive exploration-themed challenge for the whole family!

Frequently Asked Questions

National Geographic Family Journeys welcomes families travelling with children between the ages of 7 and 17. Your family must include a child in order to book, and anyone under the age of 18 must be accompanied by an adult.

All Family Journeys groups must include at least one traveller under the age of 18. If your children are 18 or older, we invite you to explore our extensive collection of National Geographic Journeys with G Adventures trips for adults.

Child rates apply to guests between the ages of 7 and 12. These rates can be found on our website in the Price Options section of the trip overview page. The discount is applied at the time of online booking or on the phone with a Family Trip Specialist.

While the minimum age on all Family Journeys is 7 years old, these trips have been designed to appeal to families of all ages (over 7). Please contact a Family Trip Specialist if you have questions about age recommendations for specific trips.

Please refer to each itinerary page for the inclusions for that particular trip. Included in your Family Journey are accommodations, arrival transfer, transportation for scheduled activities, breakfast daily, some lunches and dinners, snacks, water, and scheduled activities, as well as the services of two CEOs (Chief Experience Officers). Airfare to and from destination, travel insurance, gratuities, and any optional excursions or meals not listed on the itinerary are not included.

Yes, all National Geographic Family Journeys with G Adventures departures are guaranteed to run—even with just 2 travellers! Once you book, you’re going.

No, once you have put down your Lifetime Deposit™ per person, your price is guaranteed.

We believe that smaller groups allow for more spontaneity and bonding. That’s why Family Journeys have no more than 20 guests on each departure. You’ll get to know families from all over the world, connect, and have fun while enjoying the benefits of small group travel.

We welcome parents and kids, aunts and uncles, nieces and nephews, grandparents and grandkids, and everyone in between. As long as your group includes a traveller between the ages of 7 and 17, you can book a Family Journey.

Each group is led by two Chief Experience Officers (CEOs) who are specially trained to engage with young travelers.

Safe drinking water will be provided on each trip. In certain destinations where is advised to not use tap water for teeth-brushing, your CEOs will be sure to let you know.

Every Family Journeys CEO is trained in First Aid and CPR. We also have on-the-ground teams in each destination who can assist with any issues that may arise while you and your family are traveling.

In addition to the extensive training all our CEOs receive, Family Journeys CEOs have additional children-specific training and support from National Geographic. These dynamic individuals have been selected for their enthusiasm, passion, and desire to show families the world.

Each hotel has been selected to reflect the character of the destination and to be suitable for families. You can expect at least two beds in each room, with options for triple and quad rooms based on availability. We’ve selected hotels with family-friendly amenities like swimming pools wherever possible. Ask your Family Travel Specialist for more details.

All rooms are based on double occupancy. However, we know families come in all shapes and sizes, so other rooming configurations may be available upon request.

We’ve taken great care to ensure that there are meal options for everyone, including opportunities to try the local cuisine as well as familiar favorites for kids.

Yes. Some countries offer more variety than others, but there are options everywhere. It’s best to let your Family Trip Specialist know in advance so they can let your Chief Experience Officers (CEOs) know.

Each itinerary includes suggested amounts to budget for independent meals. On the full trip details page you can see pricing for optional activities, or you can check with your Family Trip Specialist directly.

Please inform your Family Trip Specialist as soon as possible of any allergies any member of your family has. They will let our CEOs on the ground know, and the CEOs will assist your family member in destination.

If you are travelling internationally, a passport is required for each person travelling. Visas are required for certain destinations. Check out the itinerary page or ask your Family Travel Specialist for more details. Please note: there are certain destinations that require notarized documents for children travelling with/without parents internationally.

Yes, travel insurance is mandatory for every traveller.

Vaccination requirements depends on the destination you’re travelling to. Please consult with your family physician or ask your Family Trip Specialist or Travel Agent for more information.

You can find the packing list within the full tour details, on the third tab of the itinerary page.

Although some scheduled free time is included on all Family Journeys, most days are planned with activities for everyone in the family. Please refer to the individual trip itinerary page for more details.

While our CEOs love interacting with kids, they are not responsible for childcare during the trip.

While we encourage everyone to take part in the included activities, we recognize that sometimes you—or your kids—need a break! Your CEOs can provide alternatives and help you meet back up with the group later.

Drive times for each day are listed in the full itinerary. We have designed these trips to incorporate shorter drive times wherever possible with frequent stops.

What You Should Know About a FAM Trip

Annie Brigham, Digital Marketing Coordinator

What is a FAM trip?

Who attends a fam trip, who pays for a fam trip.

What are the benefits of a FAM trip for Travel Agents and Media Personnel?

What are the benefits of a FAM trip for the Hosts?

What are some things to keep in mind when planning a FAM trip?

A FAM trip stands for “familiarization trip” and is one incentive of being in the travel industry. FAM trips are exclusive educational trips for travel agents, media personnel, and resellers. These familiarization trips provided by travel businesses such as travel operators, tour operators, and accommodation suppliers allow them to experience their services and destinations first-hand. FAM trips are opportunities for travel businesses to familiarize agents and media personnel with their destination and immerse them in the local culture, introduce them to local operators, and highlight the benefits their company offers, essentially take them backstage. For instance, they can have the opportunity to meet a celebrity chef that they have been referring their clients to.

The usual people presented on these trips are Travel Agents, suppliers, and media partners such as Journalists, Editors, Influencers, & Tour Operators. These individuals are necessary for countless travel businesses’ success, and as suppliers and travel operators, you are looking to build a long-term working relationship with them. The aim is to keep track of key industry influencers and invite people relevant to your industry’s success. These invitations may rope in a travel agent you have worked with in the past, who you want to enhance your relationship with or introduce new offerings to, or a new prospect who has recently jumped on your radar who can potentially help you collect new business.

Though FAM trips are endlessly changing and evolving, and differentiate per business, tour operators, cruise lines, and hotels interested in showcasing their points of interest typically provide everything for these trips. FAM trips are more often than not fully sponsored invite-only events unless there is a partnership with a rental car company or airline that exists. Sponsorships are customary because the host provides the money or product in exchange for their visit.

What are the benefits of a FAM trip to Travel Agents and Media Personnel?

Familiarization trips present numerous benefits to the attendees. The head benefit of a FAM trip is that it allows travel agents and other travel industry providers to gain ideal first-hand experience. This involvement enables them to understand better the several benefits that different kinds of trip excursions offer to their clients. As a result, they can better supply the perfect services and vacations to their client based on their desires and needs and effectively inform their clients on what they can expect. In addition, media personnel, travel writers and editors, and photographers can gain first-hand experience that can help provide better content, details, and photographs for their future publications. These trips grant journalists opportunities to develop tailored stories that they may want to develop further. For example, the trip may introduce them to a chef who has a fascinating life story or recipe to share. A further benefit is that the FAM trip guests can expand their professional network by building connections with other travel agents, suppliers, and media personnel; most FAM trips embrace downtime to relax with other professionals. This schedule allows them time to get in touch with industry experts and exchange stories on what has worked for their business. By developing long-lasting relationships with travel operators and suppliers, they will also acquire better deals for themselves and their future clients.

What are the benefits of a FAM trip to the Hosts?

Arranging a “familiarization trip” is a valuable marketing tool. As a host of a FAM trip, one benefit is that you can generate new leads and business for your company. By permitting these professionals to gain first-hand experience with your products, they will better understand and share the benefits of your travel offerings with their clients. When it comes to benefits from hosting media personnel is that you are enhancing your media coverage; travel writers and photographers take part in these trips to photograph your offerings and compose content. If you can impress and inspire your guests during a FAM trip, then you should be able to generate first-rate reviews and recommendations for your travel business. For example, one of our clients , Arizona, invited an Editor in Chief on a FAM trip to their destination. The Editor in Chief made a customized trip with a luxury angle and published over 20 full pages of material about the destination and included them in the cover. The clients were very thankful for these results and said that the benefits of these results were worth more than five times that than the overall cost of the FAM trip.

After conversing with some of our employees regarding their client’s FAM trip success stories, we have put together some things we think you should consider when planning your FAM trip: You must research and plan the trip and itinerary during the FAM trip planning stage according to your media personnel and travel agent’s profiles. Look at their previous publications and create activities that they will find appealing, craft experiences with multiple “wow factors” that they can share in their publications. Keep in mind that it is up to the criteria of your guest when it comes to what will get published; not everything that they experience will be incorporated. Provide thorough itineraries and trip information as soon as possible in the planning process; this will allow your FAM trip guests to raise any concerns or questions ahead of time and will enable you to customize their stay exceedingly well. When crafting a detailed itinerary for your guests, you must also be mindful of their time on your trip; you must provide a good balance of activities and educational events with free time to relax and take a breather. Lastly, put together a plan for contingencies; keep in mind that not everything will go to plan. It would be safest to prepare for anything from a last-minute guest cancellation up to flight cancelations, emergencies, or lockdowns. But, again, it is better to over plan.

Special thanks to our Connect Worldwide FAM trip experts Eduardo Peraza and Pedro Berruecos for contributing to this article. Contact us today if you are looking for a destination marketing partner or are interested in learning more about attending, planning or hosting a FAM trip.

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Understanding Family Tourism: A Perspective of Bibliometric Review

Guanghui qiao.

1 School of Tourism and Urban-Rural Planning, Zheshang Research Institute, Academy of Zhejiang Culture Industry Innovation and Development, Zhejiang Gongshang University, Hangzhou, China

Qingwen Chen

Qiaoran jia.

2 Zheshang Research Institute, Zhejiang Gongshang University, Hangzhou, China

3 School of International Tourism and Management, City University of Macau, Macao SAR, China

The study performed bibliometric visual analyses of family tourism research literature from 2008 to 2021, revealing the knowledge evolution process, research focuses, and future trends in this field. A total of 132 articles on family tourism were collated from the SSCI database of the Web of Sciences core collection and analyzed by CiteSpace. The results show that the number of research studies on family tourism has increased from 2008 to 2021, however, the overall base is small. Purdue University has the highest number of publications and citations. Inter-country cooperation occurs between the United States, China, the United Kingdom, and Australia. Recently, “motivation” and “benefit” have become hot topics in family tourism research, and “social tourism” has received widespread attention, revealing future research directions. Lehto and Wu are the core figures in the family tourism field, and their achievements have been highly cited and peer-recognized. This study focuses on family tourism research in different cultural situations, enriching the knowledge system of family tourism research, and encouraging future family tourism research focus more on seniors and disadvantaged families.

Introduction

With the continuous growth of disposable family income and tourism promotion for family functions, the family tourism market has developed rapidly and has become the most important segment of the global tourism industry ( Schänzel and Yeoman, 2015 ). For families, tourism has become a necessity rather than a luxury. It enables family members to spend unforgettable time together and create collective memories, thereby forming an effective connection ( Lehto et al., 2009 ; Carr, 2011 ).

With the expansion of the family tourism market, tourism scholars have gradually paid attention to research on family tourism. The content of studies includes family tourism decision-making ( Barlés-Arizón et al., 2013 ; Yang et al., 2020 ; Wang and Li, 2021 ), family tourism motivation ( Kim and Lehto, 2013 ; Wang et al., 2018 ), family tourism benefit ( Shaw et al., 2008 ; Lehto et al., 2009 ), and family tourism experience ( Rhoden et al., 2016 ; Wu et al., 2019 ). From the perspective of research objects, some studies focus on the roles of couples in the family ( Rojas-de-Gracia and Alarcón-Urbistondo, 2017 ). Others compare the perspectives of parents and children ( Fu et al., 2014 ), and more studies have begun to focus on the voice of children in family tourism ( Khoo-Lattimore, 2015 ; Rhoden et al., 2016 ). Previous studies on family tourism have mainly focused on western nuclear families. With the complexity of social structure, numerous changes have taken place in family structure. Many special types of families have emerged, such as families with disabled children ( Kim and Lehto, 2013 ; Sedgley et al., 2017 ) and immigrant families ( Yankholmes et al., 2021 ). In addition, in family tourism research, Chinese families influenced by traditional Confucian cultural values and one-child policy differ from western nuclear families ( Wu and Wall, 2016a ). Chinese family tourism reflects this view insofar as tourists pay more attention to children’s learning experiences ( Wu and Wall, 2016b ; Lehto et al., 2017 ) and the tourism preferences and needs of elderly parents ( Wang et al., 2018 ). Therefore, there is a need to conduct a bibliometric study of family tourism research. Bibliometric studies identify the contribution to the knowledge and the development process of relevant fields by combing and reviewing the existing research literature, revealing the current research focuses and future research trends ( Denyer and Tranfield, 2006 ).

Visualization tools can generate figures and tables to help in clarifying the complex relationship between a large numbers of research samples. Visualization is crucial in the field of knowledge. It can help researchers to quickly understand the development of relevant research fields ( Speel et al., 1999 ). This method has not been fully used in tourism research. When used effectively, it can explore the network structure of different tourism environments ( Scott et al., 2008 ).

This study aims to conduct a detailed search of family tourism research literature in the SSCI database of the Web of Sciences core collection from 2008 to 2021 and to analyze with CiteSpace, a popular knowledge domain visualization tool ( Chen et al., 2010 ). This will provide a better direction for the follow-up research and improve the knowledge structure of international family tourism. This study also attempts to highlight seniors, a neglected voice in family tourism. The extension of the average life expectancy and of social development make the intergenerational relationship between grandparents and grandchildren increasingly important in family life, and the number of “multi-generational holidays” and “grandtravel” groups is increasing ( Gram et al., 2019 ). This situation is particularly prominent in family tourism with Chinese cultural context, in which most adult children maintain close ties with their parents, grandparents help to take care of their grandchildren, and adult children provide care and spiritual comfort for their parents ( Gruijters, 2017 ; Wang et al., 2018 ). Older people need a sense of security, family affection, and belonging. Adult children take filial piety as a natural responsibility. Taking parents on trips has become a way of showing their gratitude and filial piety ( Wang et al., 2018 ). There is also growing research attention on disadvantaged families, such as families with disabled family members. Continuous improvements in social welfare offer disadvantaged family groups more opportunities to participate in tourism activities, thereby forming a potentially important niche market.

Methodology

Data collection.

This study uses the SSCI database of the Web of Sciences core collection as the data source. The first search is by topic, (TS) = “family tourism” or “family travel,” in which “topic” covers the title, summary, and keywords of an article. Then, there are 10 searches for “family,” “parents,” “children,” “grandparents,” and “couples,” each combined with “tourism” and “travel.” The searches yielded 3,759 records (on November 20, 2021). Through reading the titles, keywords, and abstracts of each of these outputs, out-of-scope literature (e.g., transport and school travel, n = 1,343, family tourism enterprises, n = 272, medical and birth tourism, n = 654, etc.) was eliminated. Finally, a sample of 132 articles spanning 2008–2021 was retained.

Data Analysis

CiteSpace is a bibliometric visualization software package developed with Java language, which is used as a tool for scientific and technical text mining and analysis. It can reveal the knowledge evolution process of a specific field by drawing a series of visualization maps. CiteSpace helps to analyze pioneering and iconic literature in a research field, hot topics in the field, and the evolution of research frontiers.

CiteSpace calculates several indicators, including betweenness centrality, modularity (Q), and mean silhouette (S). Research literature with betweenness centrality greater than 0.1 is located at the center of the network, connecting different knowledge subfields ( Chen et al., 2014 ). CiteSpace provides two indicators, modularity (Q) and silhouette (S), to judge the mapping effect. Q is generally within the range of 0–1. Q > 0.3 means that the clustering structure is significant, and clustering with S above 0.5 is usually considered reasonable ( Chen et al., 2014 ). Modularity and contour values should be considered simultaneously to ensure a reasonable explanation for the clustering characteristics of networks in CiteSpace ( Chen et al., 2010 ). CiteSpace provides researchers with various bibliometric networks, including cooperation, keyword co-occurrence, and co-citation networks ( Li and Chen, 2017 ). In tandem with the network structure and content, CiteSpace’s burst detection function helps us find special points and identify keywords or articles repeatedly mentioned by scholars in a certain period ( Chen, 2006 ).

These maps can show the development status and changes in scientific structure, and they are used for frontier analysis, field analysis, and scientific research evaluation. This study adopts the following analysis methods: co-citation analysis of the research literature, journals, and authors; network of coauthors’ institutions and countries; and co-occurrence analysis of keywords.

Results and Discussion

Network of journals.

Figure 1 shows that the average annual publication volume on family tourism from 2008 to 2012 was small. The number of studies increased significantly from 2012 to 2013, reaching a small peak, falling back in 2014 to the 2012 level. Since then, the number of studies has grown slowly, with a sharp increase from 2018 to 2019, reaching 28. From 2019 to 2021, the level was relatively high at 15 articles. It seems that more and more scholars pay attention to family tourism, but the overall number of studies remains small, and there is extensive untapped scale and scope for future research.

Year-wise publication from Web of Sciences.

The number of citations of journals reflect the influence of journals ( Garfield, 1972 ). Therefore, the journals were ranked based on careful consideration of the total number of citations and articles ( Table 1 ), and the top 10 journals were analyzed. Annals of Tourism Research published nine articles, with 72 citations and an average citation score of 8.00. Although only one article each was published by Leisure Science and the Journal of Hospitality Marketing and Management , the number of citations was high. Tourism Review currently has one relevant article, indicating that the journal has begun to pay attention to research on family tourism. Of the analyzed studies, 45.1% were published in the top 10 journals, accounting for 84.9% of the total citations of all the analyzed literature, indicating that these journals are influential in family tourism research.

Top Journals in family tourism research.

Source: Self complied.

The index of emergent citations shows the active degree of journals. Figure 2 shows the most frequently cited journals in the same year. At present, Leisure Studies has the most citations, followed by Geoforum . The longest citation bursts were for the Journal of Travel and Tourism Marketing and Leisure Studies , which lasted for 6 years. In recent years, the citation frequency of Thesis , Journal of Tourism Futures , and International Journal of Contemporary Hospitality Management has become more significant, showing that more journals are involved in family tourism research.

Citation bursts of the top 13 journals.

Collaborations Between Institutions

From Table 2 , the co-operation network among institutions has a high modularity and mean silhouette, and the network graph is of good quality. As time goes by, there are more nodes and links between them in the network, but the overall density value is low, which indicates that institutions increasingly have paid attention to family tourism as a research field, however, a central institution has not been formed to guide other institutions, and the collaboration between institutions in family tourism is scattered.

CiteSpace metrics by co-operation institutions network.

As Table 3 shows, Purdue University has the most achievements in family tourism research, with the highest number of papers and citations. It is also the institution that publishes the most papers in the first unit, followed by Zhejiang University. Although the number of papers published by Texas A&M University and Griffith University is not large, the average citation scores rank toward the top, indicating that the research results of these institutions are of high quality. Overall, the United States has the largest number of institutions, followed by China and the United Kingdom.

Top institutions in family tourism research.

Source: Author made.

Collaborations Between Countries

This study analyzes the author’s national network to explore whether family tourism research forms a stable cooperative relationship between different countries or regions. From Table 4 , there are more nodes in the network and the connections between them. Over time, researchers from more countries participate in family tourism research, and the international collaboration between them is more complex. The density of the network shows an upward trend, and the number of clusters have also decreased from 15 to 10, indicating that the countries network structure is more concentrated.

CiteSpace metrics by co-operation countries network.

The time-zone view of the country/region collaboration network ( Figure 3 ) shows that the United States, China, the United Kingdom, and Australia have laid the foundation for cooperation with other countries and regions. Emerging cooperation networks include the United States and France; China and South Korea; Japan, Poland, Russia, and Spain; Turkey, and Serbia, illustrating the increasing frequency of cooperation among some emerging market countries. However, in general, international collaboration in family tourism research needs to be improved, especially between European and Asian countries, so as to facilitate differentiated research within different cultural backgrounds.

A time-zone view of the country/region collaboration network.

Research Themes

The co-occurrence analysis of keywords and keyword expansion allows us to see the knowledge structure of the subject ( Ding et al., 2001 ). From 2008 to 2021, there were 225 keywords and keyword expansions, and 20% of them were used more than three times. This shows that the area where family tourism research is concentrated is relatively small.

Figure 4 shows that the keyword with the highest frequency is “tourism,” followed by “leisure,” “parent,” “perception,” “experience,” “family,” and “children.” From the time-zone view, we can see that the research topic has changed over time. From 2008 to 2012, the research topics covered family travel decision-making, participation, and experience, mainly from the perspectives of parents and children. Family leisure became the focus, and tourism became an important part of leisure activities. Since then, new research topics have emerged, such as family tourism destinations. Due to different motivations of family members, studies on family tourism types have gradually diversified, as in adventure tourism, heritage tourism, and ecological tourism, which, respectively, involve 6, 3 and 4 sample literatures. Among them, the main research directions of family adventure tourism are motivation and the impact of adventure on hedonic and well-being; heritage tourism mainly involves children’s experiential learning experience; ecological tourism mainly involves children’s nature conservation. This development is related to parents’ expectation that tourism will have educational significance for children. Tourism is considered to be the best education ( Yang and Lau, 2019 ). As an informal learning method, tourism is more active, interactive and experiential ( Shaw and Dawson, 2001 ). Therefore, learning experience has become one of the important motivations of family tourism.

A time-zone view of keywords with high frequencies from 2008–2021.

In the past 5 years, “motivation” and “benefit” have gradually become research hotspots. Academia began to pay attention to the travel motives of disadvantaged family groups and the broader significance of family travel. It is worth noting that “social tourism” has become a new keyword in recent years, 17 sample literatures were involved, and the research objects included families with autistic children, low-income families, and families with the visually impaired, etc. As an emerging form of tourism and social policy, social tourism targets low-income families, enabling them to participate in tourism activities ( Minnaert et al., 2011 ). This is consistent with the research on families of disabled children mentioned above. Disadvantaged families have been highlighted and have gradually been included in family tourism research.

Figure 5 shows ten burst keywords that appeared from 2008 to 2021. This burst of keywords indicates an emerging trend ( Chen et al., 2014 ). Since 2008, “impact” has become a burst keyword. This has continued up to 2013, indicating that family tourism has been of broad interest. During this time, “recreation,” “children,” and “pattern” have been mentioned frequently. Family tourism studies are focusing on children’s voices, and the influence of children’s tourism is increasingly influential. The focus on children also mainly around tourism decision, experience, benefit, etc. Relevant studies have proved that children have an increasing impact on family tourism decisions ( Kozak, 2010 ). They do not passively obey the decisions made by their parents and play an important role in tourism product purchase and on-site decision-making ( Blichfeldt et al., 2011 ). In addition, family tourism pays more attention to children’s experience ( Rhoden et al., 2016 ), especially the pursuit of learning experience. And in the recent study of family tourism value, it has become a trend to pay attention to the eudaimonic wellbeing that breaks through challenges and realizes self-development, and the role of intergenerational tourism in promoting personal and intergenerational wellbeing. Subsequently, “attitude” and “participation” became burst keywords. “Travel” and “constraint” were often mentioned. Among them, the vacation tourism constraints of aging parents and families with disabilities have been paid frequently attention ( Kong and Loi, 2017 ; Heimtun, 2019 ). In recent years (2019–2021), “motivation” and “vacation” have become breakout themes.

Top 10 keywords with the strongest citation bursts.

Co-citation Analysis by Thematic Clusters

Co-citation clustering reflects the core themes and knowledge foundation of family tourism research. Figure 6 is a reference clustering diagram constructed using CiteSpace. In our study, six major clusters were identified and featured according to the title of the articles. The modularity (Q) of co-citation clusters in this study is 0.8622, and the mean silhouette (S) is 0.9275, which shows a significant visualization effect.

Cluster analysis of the reference co-citation network.

The most cited papers provide a historical perspective on and reveal the recognition of scientific progress ( Chen, 2006 ). The more obvious the label is in front of the cluster block, the more articles are cited. There are 42 articles in the “#0 family functioning” cluster, and one article with a high citation level ( Lehto et al., 2009 ) discusses the unique interaction among family vacation tourism, family cohesion, and family communication, showing that family vacations play a positive role in promoting family relations, communication, and unity. A study ( Shaw et al., 2008 ) based on semi-structured interviews with family members in Ontario, Canada, discussed the cultural significance and experience of school-age children’s family vacations and proposed that the important aspect in family tourism is the creation of a long-term memory, which will strengthen family cohesion and establish and support positive family awareness. It can be seen that family tourism research from the functional perspective has laid a sound research foundation for family relations and children’s informal learning. There are 41 articles in the “#1 family travel” cluster, among which the two articles with the highest citation rates are from Wu and Wall (2016a) and Wu et al. (2019) . In addition, an article on the family tourism motivation of Chinese adult children and parents ( Wang et al., 2018 ) was completed by Wu and his colleagues. It can be seen that Wu holds a core position in this field, and that research on family tourism in the Chinese context has attracted extensive attention in the academic community. The articles in the “#2 mixed emotion” cluster mainly include the motivation, activities, and obstacles of families of disabled individuals. “#3 neo-Confucian values” has a distinct cultural background, and the research objects in the article are mainly Asian families. The articles contained in “#4 phenomenological study” mainly discuss the accommodation constraints and needs of European parents with children on vacation based on qualitative research and use innovative programming to measure the role of children in parents’ tourism decision-making. The articles in the “#5 couple role” cluster mainly discuss the role of the couple in tourism decisions and indicate that women are increasingly influencing family travel decisions.

Articles With Citation Bursts

The burst of a cited paper reflects the dynamic evolution of research hotspots ( Chen et al., 2014 ). Figure 7 shows the 13 most frequently cited studies in the same year, and Figure 8 shows the annual citation count for these top 13 cited reference from the publication to 2021. The burst of citations began in 2012, and the strongest outbreaks were led by Shaw et al. (2008) ; Lehto et al. (2009) , and Carr (2011) . Carr (2011) offered important opinions on the experience of family tourism, which guided follow-up research scholars and tourism managers. Shaw et al. (2008) and Lehto et al. (2009) mainly discussed the significance of family tourism in family unity, cohesion, and communication. The strongest burst in 2014 was a theoretical article by Obrador (2012) , which focused on the position of the family in tourism research.

Top references with the strongest citations bursts.

The annual citation count for top 13 references from publication year to 2021.

During the 2 years between 2017 and 2019, there was a continuous wave of citations about family tourism. The most prominent citations in 2017 were related to Barlés-Arizón et al. (2013) and Kim and Lehto (2013) . The first one focused on the motivation and travel activities of families with disabled children. The second one analyzed the impact on family tourism decisions in couples on the woman side. The most flame-up research in 2018 came from Schänzel and Smith (2014) . The article provided new insights into family tourism functions according to the multidisciplinary of group dynamics. In a full-family approach to 10 families in New Zealand, Fu et al. (2014) analyzed the impact of family tourism by comparing generational differences between parents and children. Five articles were especially noted in 2019. Two articles, published by Khoo-Lattimore in 2015 ( Khoo-Lattimore, 2015 ; Khoo-Lattimore et al., 2015 ), emphasized the role of children in family tourism. Rhoden et al. (2016) also focused on the travel experience of children. Schänzel and Yeoman (2015) proposed the significance of ten changing trends for family tourism. Wu and Wall (2016a) reviewed the literature on family tourism in the Chinese cultural contest. It is noteworthy that three of the 13 articles are from Lehto and her colleagues. Lehto’s achievements in the field of family tourism are outstanding and have been widely recognized by peers.

The family unit is the center of social activities. The most intimate and most important emotional bonds are formed with individuals’ children and families. Family tourism promotes the family system development and the harmony of society ( Yeoman, 2008 ; Schänzel and Smith, 2014 ). Family tourism plays a vital role in the tourism market.

CiteSpace is a visualizing knowledge graph analysis software package, with more advantages than other bibliometric analysis tools. First, by measuring and visualizing the network of different nodes, the nuances of knowledge can be better revealed ( Chen, 2006 ). Second, CiteSpace can decompose a variety of networks into automatically labeled clusters with terms from citing articles, enabling researchers to identify turning and pivotal points of knowledge domains. Third, the scientific cooperation network can be visualized. More collaborative connections indicate a very high rate of collaboration between research groups. Finally, the burst detection and co-occurrence analysis of high frequency and high betweenness centrality keywords can be used to identify research hotspots and trends. This research gives readers a clear picture of family tourism research topics and their evolution patterns in the past 14 years, finds research hotspots, and predicts trends by conducting collaboration network analysis, co-occurrence analysis, and co-citation analysis.

Through collaboration network analysis, the study provides an understanding and interpretation of the most cited authors and the active citation journals, including identifying the institutions and countries at the forefront of family tourism research. Through the co-occurrence analysis of keywords, we found that “motivation” and “benefit” had been popular keywords in the past 5 years. Related articles put significant attention on children, and some new viewpoints have been proposed, such as the travel motivation of senior parents and of families with disabled children. The co-citation analysis of the literature shows the dynamic evolution of family tourism research hotspots and helps readers to quickly interpret the basic and outstanding studies.

Family tourism research is affected by different cultural contests, social conditions, and economic development. Therefore, family tourism research scenarios need to be diversified to enrich their knowledge systems. The results of this study encourage future research to pay attention to the voices of elderly family members and the influence of family tourism on the physical and mental health, subjective well-being, and self-value realization of elderly family members. This research aims to fill the gap in the “parents-oriented” travel motivation study and give support to the promotion of active aging. In practice, this study offers tourism managers the ability to effectively understand current and future family tourism market needs and restrictions in order to propose more targeted products.

This study’s limitations are as follows. First, due to the constraints of CiteSpace, the sample literatures are limited to the SSCI from the WoS Core Collection, and the authors only selected articles and reviews in the collections, excluding other published works and there are some tourism journals and related articles missing. In order to alleviate this limitation, we discussed highly cited literatures in co-citation analysis. Besides, the language limitations of the research team confine this study to journals published in English. However, many literature on family tourism have been published in Korean, Chinese, Japanese, and other languages.

In future studies, it is necessary to further study family tourism in different family types, and pay attention to the travel preferences and needs of different family members, especially the seniors. In order to promote active aging, it is necessary to discuss the benefits of family tourism from the perspective of the seniors and help them achieve intergenerational happiness.

Author Contributions

GQ: conceptualization, validation, formal analysis, investigation, writing – original draft preparation, and funding acquisition. YC: writing – original draft preparation, methodology, and data curation. QC: conceptualization, methodology, and data curation. QJ: data curation and review and editing. All authors contributed to the article and approved the submitted version.

Conflict of Interest

The authors declare that the research was conducted in the absence of any commercial or financial relationships that could be construed as a potential conflict of interest.

Publisher’s Note

All claims expressed in this article are solely those of the authors and do not necessarily represent those of their affiliated organizations, or those of the publisher, the editors and the reviewers. Any product that may be evaluated in this article, or claim that may be made by its manufacturer, is not guaranteed or endorsed by the publisher.

This work was supported by the Scientific Research and Creation Project of Zhejiang Provincial Department of Culture and Tourism (No. 2021KYY025); National Social Science Foundation of China (No. 21BGL282).

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ULTIMATE GUIDE TO THE PARIS LOUVRE FOR KIDS

INSIDE: Curious about the Louvre for children? Take a look at our EPIC Guide to the Louvre for kids, including what we believe is the best time to visit the Louvre with kids. 

Researching a possible trip to the Louvre for kids on your next Paris family vacation?

The Louvre in Paris is one of those bucket list adventures for many of us, but if you are travelling Paris with kids, it’s hard to know what to do.

There are so many questions when you are trying to decide IF you should you visit the Louvre museum with kids, or not?

Parents ask:

• Will there be stuff for the kids to see at the Louvre museum, or will it be over their heads?
• Will it be too crowded?
• Will they be able to see anything?
• Will they be interested in the paintings, masterpieces & sculptures in the Louvre?
• What age is too young?
• Should you take a toddler to the Louvre?
• What is the best time to visit the Louvre with kids?
• What is the best day to visit the Louvre?
• When are the Louvre quiet times?

Someone once asked us if the kids would see dead bodies?

True story.

There’s all kinds of questions when it comes to visiting the Louvre museum in Paris with kids!

Let’s see if we can answer some of them in our EPIC GUIDE TO THE LOUVRE WITH KIDS.

Take a look below.

Disclosure: This article contains affiliate links . If you make a purchase after clicking on one of these links, we may receive a small commission at NO extra cost to you.

Top Tips on the Louvre for Kids 

Yes, exploring the Louvre with kids IS possible, despite the crowds, and yes, it can be good fun.

But there’s a caveat.

It’s a great day out, as long as you don’t plan on staying too long, or maxing out the kid’s patience in what is the world’s largest AND most visited museum .

Do reward your kid’s patience and good behaviour by breaking for a homemade croque monsieur.

This is France’s answer to grilled cheese.

Be sure to follow that with a sweet macaron or two at one of the local cafes or restaurants in Paris nearby.

A treat is always a good bribe!

If you are an art lover, we recommend returning without kids at some point too!

• Book your (Timed Entry) Skip the Line Louvre Museum tickets here.
• Book your Skip the Line Louvre Museum tickets with an audio guide and detailed map included here. 

Image credit: Andy Rusch via Flickr CC BY-2.0

First up: The Best Time to Visit the Louvre with Kids?

Before we begin: Take advantage of the Louvre’s evening hours on Wednesdays and Fridays until 9:45 p.m and take the kids in the early evening  when the crowds are less boisterous.

This is our pick of the BEST TIME to visit the Louvre with kids. 

The other best time to visit the Louvre with kids is midweek, early afternoon, when the late-eater crowds disperse for a belated lunch.

Or, you could try to be in line right at opening if you only have a couple of hours, and can be out before the crowds thicken around mid morning.

Mid-morning entrances to the Louvre museum are best avoided with kids if you want to give them a chance to get up close and personal with the Louvre paintings and Louvre statues.

Image credit: Marcus Meissner via Flickr CC BY-2.0

Book a Louvre Family Tour

Our tip is book a Louvre kids tour, one with activities. 

And go with the experts who know how to navigate around the crowds.

Our hot tip: This is our most popular recommendation: a family friendly tour of the Louvre with Get Your Guide. 

Skip the Line Family Tour of the Louvre for Kids

On this tour above, kids see (and hear):

• Venus de Milo and stories of Greek mythology
• the much-adored Winged Victory of Samothrace
• learn about a variety of the antique statues
• the MONA LISA, along with stories about her intriguing smile and what it means

Plus, at the end of the guided tour, you are free to wander the Louvre museum until the kids have truly had enough!

Take a look at the full tour inclusions here. 

Or, Book a Private Family Tour at the Louvre Museum

It’s also possible to book a private family tour , meaning you don’t have to worry about keeping up with the group, and can cut it short if the kids or toddlers get restless.

The guides who run these two-hour-long private Louvre tours for kids are very experienced with kids of ALL ages.

Guides have tricks up their sleeve (games, puzzles, quizzes) to make sure everyone is engaged and having fun as the whole family explores the history of art.

It’s definitely another good option if you want to visit the Louvre with kids.

Hot tip: Stop by the Aire de Jeux playground near the Louvre after your visit so the kids can run off steam!

Image credit: Ernest McGray Jr via Flickr CC BY-SA 2.0

Our Hot Tips for Visiting the Louvre Kids Style!

There’s three reasons to head to the Louvre with kids in tow.

• Louvre Paintings
• Louvre Statues
• Louvre Sculptures

Here’s a list of the best things to see at the Louvre with kids.

Image credit: David Stanley via Flickr CC BY-2.0

Tip No.1: Find the Best Kid Friendly Louvre Exhibits

Visiting the Louvre with Kids?

Unless you are on a mission to how much is possible to see in the Louvre Museum Paris in one day, we recommend you stick with the Highlights of the Louvre if you have the kids in tow.

Take a look below for our Louvre tips and ideas.

Without doubt, the main reason most people plan on visiting the Louvre museum is to see Leonardo da Vinci’s Mona Lisa.

People from all walks of life, and every country in the world, come to Paris to catch a glimpse of the world famous painting.

Fun fact: Did you know that Henri Loyrette, former director of the Louvre, said that 80% of visitors go for the Mona Lisa & then LEAVE!

(Don’t do that.)

Mona Lisa is now housed behind bullet proof glass in its own climate-controlled room.

Image credit: Jastrow via Wikimedia Public domain

Venus de Milo Louvre

The Venus de Milo with her missing arms, along with the Mona Lisa and Michelangelo’s David, are arguably the most recognised pieces of art in the world.

The Venus de Milo sculpture is over 2,000 years old.

She is one of the most iconic representations of classical female beauty still in existence.

The Louvre Pyramid

The Louvre Pyramid was built in the 1980s as the main entrance to the Louvre Museum by Chinese American architect I.M. Pei, but not without controversy.

Nowadays, the modern glass structure has become a landmark in its own right, although it is MUCH smaller in real life than what we expected!

It’s surprisingly small in fact, and is also surrounded by three more unassuming tiny pyramids too!

Image credit: Rijin S via Wikimedia Commons

Winged Victory of Samothrace (190 BC, Ancient Greece )

The Winged Goddess of Nike has pride of place over the Louvre’s Daru stairs as though she is on guard at the bow of a ship.

Another very, very old Greek work of art.

Image credit: Louvre Museum CC BY-SA  

Great Sphinx of Tanis (Old Kingdom, 2600 BC, Old Kingdom)

This sphinx was excavated in 1825 from among the ruins of the Temple of Amun at Tanis.

It remains one of the largest sphinxes on display outside of Egypt.

Image credit: Louvre Museum (Public domain)

The French Crown Jewels (Department of Decorative Arts)

Little Princesses, Princes, and Disney Frozen Fans will be awed (and thrilled) by the jewel-embellished Coronation Crowns in the Department of Decorative Arts.

These custom-made crowns reflect the wealth and power bestowed upon the French kings at the time.

Image credit: Alan Light via Flickr CC BY-2.0

Tip No.2: What to see at the Louvre in 2 Hours?

Check out the Louvre Floor Plan PDF before you go.

This gives you a good idea of what is where, so you can plan your entrance, and your Louvre route.

If the Mona Lisa is on your list, head straight to the Denon Wing, Level 1 for the Paintings/Italy exhibition.

If you are asking the question, “If I only have two hours to spend in the Louvre what should I see?”, here’s a little secret! 

The Louvre has already mapped out a number of routes you can take.

On this tool, you can choose:

• the time frame you have (eg 1 hour, 2 hours, 3 hours, all day?)
• your audience (eg family, children, adults only, disability?)
• the day of your visit
• your chosen theme (Egyptian,

Click here to map your own route. .

Be patient when using this tool.

Not every route will work every day, nor for your audience type.

Click around a few times before you give up.

The route will show underneath, and will list a suggested itinerary in bullet points.

Image credit: Chris Waits via Wiki Commons CC BY-2.0

Tip No.3: Wondering what to see in the Louvre that’s specifically for kids?

Here’s a few tips.

Tactile Gallery at the Louvre

• The Tactile Gallery is the only place in the museum where visitors are encouraged to touch .
• The gallery features plaster or resin casts of the original sculptures on display at the Louvre.

Thematic Trails for Kids at the Louvre

When visiting the Louvre Museum in Paris, you can also request one of their thematic trails for kids at the service desk.

DIY Sketching 

If the kids are a bit older, they can always take their own pencils and drawing pads, and sketch as they go.

See below for more family activities in the Louvre. 

Image credit: Dustin Gaffke via Wikimedia Commons CC BY-2.0

Tip No.4: Louvre Museum Kids Tours and Activities

The Petite Galerie is a permanent exhibition space in the heart of the museum, open to all, but that is designed with families and children in mind.

If you have children over 8, you might like to take advantage of the Family Tour .

• This runs in the Little Gallery (Petite Gallery)   from 3.00pm – 4.30pm every Saturday and Sunday.
• This ‘tour’ encompasses walking, running and dancing to help children to discover the representations of the body in motion.

There’s also new interactive fun for 6-8 year olds where they investigate the scenario where a painting has disappeared!

Children question witnesses and suspects and interpret their attitudes and expressions to disentangle the false from the true! A journey-investigation in the heart of the collections of paintings.

Prices start from € 6.00

Image credit: Naturehead via Wikimedia Commons CC BY-SA 3.0

Tip No.5: Hire an Audio Guide or Download the Louvre App onto your Phone

Louvre audio guide.

Families can also hire an audioguide on a Nintendo 3DS ™ XL – this guide is led by curators and speakers who guide you through the museum at your own pace, so you can make stops or detours when you need to!

There’s three possible ways to use the Audio Guide:

• You do not know the museum and want to be guided , choose the course “masterpieces” that will take you from the Venus de Milo to the Mona Lisa through the most beautiful spaces of the palace.
• You do not want to miss anything of the musts of the museum, we have selected them for you and put forward on our interactive plan.
• You want to wander as you please , more than 700 comments of works and rooms are at your disposal. And do not be afraid to get lost, thanks to a new interactive plan deployed on the double screen of the DS, you will be located and guided step by step in the museum.

The audioguide is available  in 7 languages:

• German, and

Pay for one of these at the cash desk, or the vending machine under the Pyramid then take the voucher to the distribution counter, where you will be given the Nintendo once you’ve given them proof of ID.  

For more information, click here .

Full hire price: 5 €

Preorder your Audio Guide here.

Image credit: Smerikal via Flickr CC BY-SA 2.0

You can also download their new personalised tour, My Visit to the Louvre, onto your phone.

If you do this, you can keep a record of your wanderings during your visit.

Download our new App “ My Visit to the Louvre, ” from home or at the museum, and create your very own, made-to-measure tour.

(Get it from the App store or Googleplay) 

Tip Six: Plan your visit before your Louvre entrance

Plan your visit and you might time it right to enjoy one of the many family-friendly activities on offer:

• visit the cinema for young audiences and watch a montage of films and short sequences on the artist’s studio in the cinema of yesteryear
• or, enjoy a concert for families at the Louvre auditorium.

There’s also:

• fun drawing and painting activities
• storytelling

Plus opportunities to play with science equipment such as globes, astrolabes or compasses as a scientific apprentice!

Workshops include:

“ What if the paintings were animated ?”

• Kids capture a movement, draw it and then create its flip-book – a small booklet animated pocket.

“ Discover a painting ” 

• Kids can choose a character in motion, make it evolve and then photograph it to create its own animated GIF.

Fun Facts about the Louvre for Kids

With thanks to Just Fun Facts .

Looking for Le Louvre Facts before you go to set the mood and anticipation? 

Here’s a few for starters.

How many artworks are there at the Louvre? 

Did you know there’s over 35,000 objects on display out of a collection of 380,000?

The collection is divided among eight curatorial departments:

• 1. Near Eastern Oriental Antiquities
• 2. The Department of Greek, Etruscan, and Roman Antiquities
• 3. Egyptian Antiquities
• 4. The Department of Paintings
• 5. The Department of Graphic Arts featuring Prints and Drawings
• 6. The Department of Decorative Arts (Objects of Art)
• 7. The Department of Sculptures, and
• 8. The Department of Islamic Art.

With over 7,500 artworks, the Paintings Department is probably the most loved part of the museum.

How many people visit the Louvre each day? 

Today the Louvre Museum is the world’s most visited museum.

On average, around 15,000 people visit each day.

65 percent of these Louvre visitors are foreign tourists.

How long would it take to see everything at the Louvre?

It would take 100 days to see everything in the Louvre if you looked at each item for 30 seconds, all day without a break.

What does the Louvre mean? 

The Louvre is simply the name of one of the world’s most famous museums and is located in Paris, France.

There is no other meaning. 

The Louvre is currently a museum but used to be a palace.

Image credit: Denis McLaughlin via Flickr CC BY-SA 2.0

More Le Louvre Facts

Did you know that the louvre is not limited to the walls of the palace.

The gardens of the Carrousel and Tuileries, the Eugène-Delacroix museum and the gypsothèque in Versailles are also attached to it and await your visit.

When was the Louvre built?

The Louvre was built shortly after 1190 by King Philippe Auguste.

Originally a simple defensive fortress, the Louvre has long been one of the principal residences of the kings of France.

Becoming a museum in 1793 , it presents more than 73,000 m² of Western art from the Middle Ages to 1848, as well as ancient civilizations that preceded and influenced it.

Image credit: Louvre Museum (CC0 public domain) 

What is the oldest piece of art in the Louvre? 

About 35,000 works of art are exhibited.

The oldest statue dates back more than seven thousand years.

The Statue of Aïn Ghazal was “modelled by hand on a skeleton frame of braided fiber ropes” so it stands. 

When was the Louvre Pyramid built?

The Louvre glass pyramid was built in the 1980s as the main entrance to the Louvre Museum.

The modern glass structure is the most recognisable feature of the Louvre today.

Image credit: Olivier Bruchez via Flickr CC BY-SA 2.0

Become a Member

If you are staying in Paris for any length of time, become a Member of the Louvre.

Opt for the Family option of the Friends of the Louvre when you subscribe to the Louvre and you’ll enjoy one year of privileges for 1 to 2 adults, and up to 3 children, with Option Famille:

• A privileged and unlimited access to the collections,
• Reductions for the workshops,
• Free access to the young audience programming of the Auditorium, and
• 3 months subscription to Le Petit Léonard magazine

Image credit: Connie Ma viaWikimedia commons CC BY-2.0

The Louvre Shop

Located in the alley of the Grand Louvre, there’s a new bookshop/gift shop at the Louvre museum.

Beautifully curated, the Louvre museum shop has a wide range of products derived from the collections and exhibitions of the museum.

• Gifts, Homewares, Glassware, Ornaments
• Prints, Calendars, Posters
• Reproductions of works

On the first floor, you will discover an impressive art bookstore, and an area entirely dedicated to the children and young people.

Museum shops in Paris are FULL of unexpected and handmade treasures and you’ll find some of the BEST Paris souvenirs in them.

Do not leave without a quick look inside.

Image credit: Joe deSousa via Flickr Public domain

There are 15 cafés, restaurants and outlets throughout the Louvre , including the Cafe Marly restaurant pictured above.

Dine-in and takeaway eating establishments can be found:

• in the Louvre Museum
• the Carrousel Garden and
• the Tuileries Garden.

Find a list of budget-friendly cafes at the Louvre here.

(Be sure to click both the cafe, and restaurant tabs to see the full list)

Our tip for budget travel in Paris, would be to pick up freshly-baked sweet treats, pastries, and sandwiches from Paul’s Kiosk in the garden.

It’s the ideal spot for families to eat, with  the museum and the Louvre Pyramid in view.

We also suggest planning your visit to include snack breaks.

There are plenty of places and spaces to eat around the Museum.

THE INSIDE SCOOP: Best Time to Visit the Louvre Paris

Correct at time of publication on Roam the Gnome . Please check with venue for updates. We apologise in advance if there have been any changes we are unaware of. All prices in EURO, unless otherwise stated

Where is the Louvre? The Louvre adddress is Musée du Louvre, 75058 Paris – France Telephone:  + 33 (0) 1 40 20 53 17 Website: Click here

Le Louvre Museum Hours 2020:

• Monday: 9 a.m. – 6 p.m.
• Tuesday: Closed
• Wednesday: 9 a.m. – 9:45 p.m.
• Thursday: 9 a.m. – 6 p.m.
• Friday: 9 a.m. – 9:45 p.m.
• Saturday: 9 a.m. – 6 p.m. (until 9:45 p.m. the first Saturday of each month – Richelieu wing by prior reservation)
• Sunday: 9 a.m. – 6 p.m.

Guides begin to close the rooms from 5.30 p.m. or 9.30 p.m. on night days.

The Louvre is closed on the following public holidays:

• May 1 Labor Day
• December 25 (Christmas Day)

Image credit: Gabriele B. ( CC BY 2.o )

Louvre Admission – The Louvre Prices

• The Louvre ticket price for tickets purchased on site cost 15 euros per adult**(subject to change), however it is highly recommended you buy online in advance to guarantee entry as crowds are growing. 
• Check the crowd calendar for the Louvre on this app
• Entry is free for children under 18, with proof of age.

Buy Louvre Tickets Online via this link below:

• Tickets are valid on the same day, for the Louvre museum (permanent collections and temporary exhibitions) and the Eugène-Delacroix museum.
• The Louvre cost online via the Louvre website is 17 euros per person.

What can I see with the Louvre ticket  ?

In addition to the collections of the Louvre Museum, the ticket gives access to temporary exhibitions the same day and for 48 hours at the Musée Eugène-Delacroix.

Can we visit the Louvre museum for free?

Yes! The Louvre is free on one regular day every month. 

From January 2019, the Louvre is open for free to all visitors, the first Saturday of each month from 6 p.m. until closing at 9.45 p.m. 

The Louvre museum is FREE for everyone  on July 14.

All young people under 18 enter for free all year round.

Image credit: John Donges via Flickr CC BY-ND 2.0

How to get to the Louvre

Follow these Louvre directions.

By Metro: Lines 1 & 7 (Station: Palais Royal – Musée du Louvre); Line 14 (Station: Pyramid)

By Bus:   21, 24, 27, 39, 48, 68, 69, 72, 81, 95 & Open Top (Bus Stop is in front of the Pyramid)

Velib bicycled hire stations near the museum: n ° 1015: 2 place A. Malraux n ° 1023: 165 Saint-Honoré street n ° 1014: 5 rue de l’Echelle n ° 1013: 186 rue Saint-Honoré

By car:  an underground car park is accessible by Avenue du Général-Lemonnier every day from 7 am to 11 pm.

By Batobus:  “Louvre” stop, François-Mitterrand platform

Image credit: Chad Goddard via Flickr CC BY-ND 2.0

Skip the Line Louvre Museum

Enter the museum in less than 30 minutes  by purchasing your ticket online direct from the Louvre  here.  

When you arrive, join the Orange Line for direct entry.

Alternative entry to the Louvre

Entrances at the Carrousel du Louvre from the Métro station or at Passage Richelieu off Rue de Rivoli avoid the long lines.

You can buy tickets in advance, but you must pick them up in person at a different location.

More information here .

Paris Museum Pass

The Paris Museum Pass  includes the Louvre and offers savings for tourists who want to explore several museums during a two-day, three-day, or six-day stay in Paris.

Image credit: Martin Brochhaus via Flickr CC BY-SA 2.0

Buy Tickets to the Louvre on the day

If you are buying your ticket on the day, the main entrance and ticket office is at the Pyramid du Louvre.

Join the green line to queue for buying tickets.

We strongly advise buying tickets in advance to avoid this if you are travelling with kids! 

Hot tip: You may try the blue line to purchase tickets if you have a stroller with you, or are pregnant.

Facilities at the Louvre in Paris

Toilets:  Yes, including baby change tables. Ask a staff member for directions. Disability access: Yes. You can hire wheelchairs free of charge if necessary. Closest ATM: On site. Closest playground:  Aire de jeux playground, in the Jardin des Tuileries Picnic tables: Yes, at cafes and outdoors Water Bubblers/fountains: Yes, outdoors Scooters and Bikes:  No Dogs : No

Image credit: Guilhem Vellut via Flickr CC BY-2.0

Hot tips for Visiting the Louvre

Free strollers at the louvre & wheelchairs too.

• The Louvre has strollers, baby carriers and wheelchairs to borrow, free of charge to visitors who have difficulty moving around the museum. 
• Speak to the receptionists in the reception area under the Pyramid. 
• The loan is made in exchange for a piece of identification.
• All material borrowed from the museum can not leave the premises of the institution.

Free Wifi at the Louvre

• The Louvre has Free WIFI. 

A network “Louvre_Wifi_Gratuit” is available under the pyramid and in the museum. 

Once connected, you get one hour of free Wifi, renewable without limitation.

Where to stay in Paris near the Louvre?

We stayed at the Novotel Paris les Halles and we highly recommend it.  

Read our review.

This Paris hotel is only a short 9 min walk to the Louvre, and there’s a very cool space-age playground about a minute away.

The Eiffel Tower is just 30 minutes from the hotel on the RER too.

(We booked a Skip the Line tour of the Eiffel Tower with Get your Guide, so when we got there the kids and I didn’t have to queue)

If you are visiting Paris with children, book a stay at the Novotel Paris les Halles.

Check latest prices here .

Image credit: Pixabay

Toadstool Rating – Louvre Museum Paris

Looking for more things to do in Paris with kids?

Click the links in blue for more Paris attractions below.

The ULTIMATE Guide of Places to Go in Paris with Kids

Round up of the best playgrounds in paris for kids, shop in paris for the best french toys brands , complete guide to the eiffel tower with kids (including activities).

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How To Create Your Own Family Traditions—And Why You Should

Family rituals provide a sense of connectedness and belonging. Learn how these symbolic moments help families bond while creating lasting memories.

Why Family Traditions Are Important

Family routines vs. family traditions, non-holiday family traditions, family holiday traditions, how to keep family traditions going.

Family traditions or rituals are experiences or activities that are passed down between generations. These traditions can be as unique and special as the family itself. In addition to being something to look forward to, traditions also establish a foundation for family values and serve as special bonding experiences .

Traditions can provide families with a sense of identity and belonging. They can inspire positive feelings and memories that family members can share. Family traditions also provide a sense of continuity across generations. They are a way of transferring the family's values, history, and culture from one generation to the next. Learn more about the benefits of creating and keeping family rituals, including 33 family tradition ideas to try.

Paul Plews / Cultura / Getty Images

People create and maintain family traditions because they bring meaning to celebrations and foster special bonds. More importantly, traditions create positive experiences and memories and a sense of security for everyone by nurturing a family's connection and giving them a sense of belonging.

Family traditions also help children understand who they are and what is important to the family to which they belong. Traditions create a connection for children that comes from feeling like they are part of something unique and extraordinary. Family traditions can even contribute to a child's self-esteem and enhance their well-being. After all, children find comfort and security when things are predictable and consistent.

Benefits of Family Traditions

• Make memories for families that last a lifetime
• Provide children a sense of security by providing continuity
• Give family members a strong sense of belonging
• Help pass on family values including cultural and religious heritage
• Keep generations connected and give them a family history to share
• Can promote a physically active lifestyle

Family traditions differ from everyday family routines, which also occur repeatedly, but lack the symbolic meaning that family rituals hold. While family traditions carry a special significance for all family members involved, family routines are often basic activities that are necessary to keep the family unit functioning. A regular family dinner each weeknight may be part of the family routine, for example, whereas a family dinner at a favorite restaurant for your child's birthday may be a tradition.

Many families have traditions that endure for generations. These special activities or events often generate fond memories that everyone cherishes and attempts to carry on. Some traditions relate to the family's heritage, like going to a cultural festival or cooking a meal from the "old country" on a certain day each year.  

Other rituals may have to do with special events, such as a pearl necklace that is passed down at each wedding. Still others are simply fun activities that family members enjoy repeating.

To create traditions for your family, think about things that your family enjoys doing and build upon those things. Keep in mind too, that family traditions sometimes form on their own. Some of the best family traditions happen by accident—you do something on a whim and the entire family loves it and wants to repeat it again. Before you know it, you have created a family tradition.

When most people think of family traditions, they naturally think of holiday traditions first, such as those surrounding Kwanzaa, Christmas, Hannukah, or Ramadan. Events surrounding these holidays, like picking out a Christmas tree, lighting the candles on the menorah or kinara, and gathering for dinner with extended family can become regular traditions.

But families can also have non-holiday rituals that are unique to them. Think: Apple picking every fall or letting the birthday child pick the restaurant for their birthday dinner.

Here are a few family traditions ideas that you can adapt for your family or use as inspiration:

• Volunteer each spring in an annual community cleanup.
• Cook hamburgers on the grill on Saturdays during the summer.
• Take a silly family selfie during summer vacation each year.
• Buy food for the local food pantry once a month and deliver it together.
• Have a bonfire to celebrate the last day of school.
• Picnic in a park on the first day of summer.
• Serve in a local soup kitchen together once a month.
• Go apple picking or visit a pumpkin patch each fall.
• Do karaoke, laser tag, bowling, roller skating, or some other fun activity on a set day each month, such as the last Friday.
• Take your kids for ice cream to celebrate every report card.
• Have a particular food on a set day each week, such as brunch on Sunday, breakfast for dinner on Friday, or tacos on Tuesday.
• Build a fire and make hot chocolate on the first day of winter.
• Go on a maple syrup hike each winter.
• Organize a family book club.
• Take part in an annual fitness challenge as a family.
• Go on a family walk or bike ride every Sunday afternoon.
• Watch the sunrise together on the first day of summer and the sunset on the last day of summer break.
• Plan a regular family game night and play cards or board games together.

Here are some holiday traditions to choose or adapt for your family.

• Give everyone a new set of pajamas and take a family photo in your matching PJs.
• Give each child a board game or  puzzle  and play the games or assemble the puzzles as a family.
• Watch a favorite holiday movie each Thanksgiving.
• Cook a meal together as a family on your family's special holiday.
• Make fun and creative Leprechaun traps for St. Paddy's Day .
• Get hot chocolate and watch a community tree-lighting ceremony.
• Tour your community to look at the light displays on homes or businesses.
• Make and decorate holiday-themed cookies.
• Host a family or neighborhood cookie exchange.
• Do holiday crafts together, such as for Thanksgiving , Hanukkah , Christmas , Easter , or Valentine's Day. Then use what you make to decorate your home or give as gifts.
• Assemble care packages for family members who are away during the holidays.
• Write heartfelt letters to family members you can't spend time with during the holidays.
• Host a white elephant gift exchange.
• Attend a holiday performance or concert each year, such as the "Nutcracker," the local symphony, or Trans Siberian Orchestra.
• Get a new piece of holiday-related decor, like a Christmas ornament, each year, or make an ornament to commemorate the past year.

Establishing and maintaining family traditions is a way for families to bond over shared experiences and a way for them to connect to one another and their shared past. But keeping family traditions going takes some commitment and planning .

While most people look forward to the stability and predictability that comes with repeating the same activities each year, it also can be daunting if the family traditions are highly involved, overly expensive, or require a lot of planning.

Try to keep your family traditions simple. Think about playing games, sharing special recipes, going on a hike, seeing a performance, and so on. These simpler traditions are more likely to be repeated and carried on. Likewise, your traditions don't need to be expensive. There are plenty of ways for families to bond without spending a lot of (or any) money.

Be open to trying things out—and scrapping them if they don't work. You also don't need to repeat an activity over and over just because it's become a tradition. The goal of a family tradition is that everyone has fun and looks forward to repeating it year after year. Feel free to change things up and only keep the traditions your whole family loves.

Your Family Rituals . American Academy of Pediatrics . 2015.

Researching family practices in everyday life: Methodological reflections from two studies .  Int J Soc Res Methodol . 2014.

Children's and Adolescents' Happiness and Family Functioning: A Systematic Literature Review . Int J Environ Res Public Health . 2022.

Family environment and self-esteem development: A longitudinal study from age 10 to 16 . J Pers Soc Psychol . 2020.

The Role of Family Time Together in Meeting the Recommendation for Physical Activity among Primary School Children . Int J Environ Res Public Health . 2020.

How could the transfer of food knowledge be passed down? .  Procedia Soc Behav Sci . 2013.

  The ties that bind: Materiality, identity, and the life course in the “things” families keep .  J Fam Hist . 2018.

Research on the effects of family rituals on subjective well-being of Chinese college students . Curr Psychol . 2022.

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Diversity Dictionary: What is a fam trip?

Many hotels, tours and cruise lines offer discounted rates to travel agents so that they can experience what a traveller would get .  Travel and accommodation suppliers and tour operators embrace the opportunity to raise awareness of their services and provide the best portrait of their business . They should aim to answer any and every question a travel agent may have, so that this information makes its way to potential new customers !

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