British Family Holidays

British families will spend around £15 billion on holidays this year, with the average family spending £1,830, according to 'Family Holidays', the latest report from MINTEL.

Family holidays now account for one in four trips made by Britons each year - in 2004 an estimated 42 million trips are expected, with the majority to be taken in the UK. Some 12 million of them will be package holidays lasting more than four nights.

Last year over 60% of families went on holiday, accounting for an estimated 28% of the total holiday market. Lack of money is the main inhibitor to family holidays, with as many as 16% simply unable to afford to take a main holiday each year. Around 10% of families never take a holiday.

The main concerns associated with family holidays - presumably excluding the perennial 'Are we there yet?' - are crowded or noisy resorts (mentioned as a concern by 65%), fear of crime (62%) and the danger of terrorism (53%). Respondents were more than twice as likely to worry about resorts being taken over by fellow Brits (32%) than holidaymakers from other countries at (13%).

According to Consumer Analyst Amanda Lintott holidaymakers, including families, are increasingly likely to choose holidays other than packages from the major tour operators. 'Generally, families are less likely to go on holidays abroad, preferring to go on independent domestic holidays, a large proportion of which are visits to friends and family'.

There has been a rise in the number of grandparents taking their grandchildren away on holiday. It is anticipated that this segment of the family holiday market will expand gradually in future, with more grandparents choosing to take their children on holiday or to simply join their children and grandchildren on family trips. The majority of children aged 0-6 have a living grandparent and spend more time with them than the previous generation.

The report also comments on Government plans to rationalise the school year by creating a national timetable, forecasting various possible outcomes for the holiday market: either the same number of holidays will be squeezed into a shorter period, holidays will be moved to different months of the year, or fewer holidays will be taken by families overall. Lintott suggests that 'The new standard year is of grave concern to players in the travel industry, particularly for domestic operators whose fortunes are easily sullied by unfavourable weather conditions and changes in demand patterns'.

Mintel's web site is at www.mintel.com

All articles 2006-23 written and edited by Mel Crowther and/or Nick Thomas, 2024- by Nick Thomas, unless otherwise stated.

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