In a year of tight budgets and a world of uncertainty, family vacations will evolve in 2009. The emphasis will be on bonding and meaning, with consuming on the outs.
In an unstable world, families will often turn to each other. In the midst of war and lay-offs, the need to come together, the need to prioritize family over finances and career, take center stage. Expect people to stay closer to home and travel closer to family. People will not stop taking family vacations, but they will probably take fewer non-family vacations.
The year 2009 will be the year of the old-fashioned, bonding, connecting family vacation. Families will choose comfortable over the exotic, road trips over long flights. That isn't necessarily a bad thing.
Here is a list of what's hot in family travel, featuring what's in and what's out for 2009.
What's Out: Business Travel and Couples Getaways
What's In: Taking the Kids Everywhere
It used to be that kids went on family vacations, and to places that are so-called "kid-friendly." Not this year. Don't be surprised to find kids tagging along when the parents go on vacations (so conference organizers should have plenty of spouse and family activity options). Romantic getaways will become mingled with family vacations, so family-friendly resorts and hotels will need to beef up kid camps, babysitting and other offerings to give parents some solo time.
What's Out: Theme Parks
What's In: Authenticity and Learning Vacations
Of course, families will still hit theme parks this year. That will never die down too much. But for many parents, there will be an emphasis on authenticity over simulated experiences. Instead of a history-themed park, parents will strive to take kids to the site of some real history such as Philadelphia or Washington, D.C. They will also look more for hands-on experiences, both for the adults and the kids, as is evidenced by a rise in classes (even cooking classes for kids).
What's Out: Separate Family Vacations and Visits to Family
What's In: Destination Family Reunions and Multi-Generational Travel
Families will be less likely to take two trips: one to visit grandparents and one family vacation. To save money and to further emphasize bonding, these two trips will be combined into destination reunions and multi-generational vacations. The fact that grandparents are now highly active baby boomers just further encourages these trends.
What's Out: Trans-Atlantic Flights
What's In: Old-Fashioned Road Trips
Gas prices have dropped in half in recent weeks. That, paired with the high cost of flying a whole family, will combine to make this a break-out year for the road trip. Besides the economic savings, it's a nostalgia thing. In trying times, families turn to nostalgia and the Gen-Xers with kids now will be thinking fondly of their own childhood vacations as they plan trips with their kids. This is also aided by mainstream affordability of in-car GPS units.
What's Out: Booking Travel a la Carte
What's In: All-Inclusive Family Vacation Packages
It used to be savvy travelers hunted around and pieced together their vacation, or went with a budget. In fluctuating currencies and with uncertain times, having a prepaid all-inclusive family vacation will be even more valuable for families.
What's Out: Classic One-Week Family Vacation
What's In: Long Weekends and Extended Family Sabbaticals
As people prioritize family over career, they will start taking more of the many day of vacation time that typically go unused. That means for some, it will be several short vacations a year. For others, that re-prioritizing (and perhaps layoffs and other uncertainties) will lead to true family bonding on an extended family sabbatical.
The copyright of the article What's Hot in Family Travel in Family Travel is owned by Kelby Carr. Permission to republish What's Hot in Family Travel in print or online must be granted by the author in writing.
Amen to long weekends and extended family sabbaticals. Sometimes it's just
not feasible to plan a traditional 1 or 2 week trip away to someplace
exotic or warm or both.
So rather than feel perpetually
depressed at not reaching that particular vacation goal in this economic
climate I agree that long weekends fit the bill. I recently started
splitting up my vacation time (I get 4 weeks a year)over the year - adding
a couple days here and there to create long weekends.
We then
bundle up the family (sometimes they miss a day of school) and we travel
out of town for a couple days or even go and visit my eldest child who just
left home for college.
Surprisingly we have a wonderful time
traveling for 6 hours in a van through rural areas and cities. Between the
quality chats in the van, listening to the kids music lists from itunes
(they have good taste), settling into our favorite Inns and eating together
at meals - we have a great time.
Best of all - the whole
trip/vacation is a small fraction of what a full blown 1-week vacation
would cost. Doing this a few times year has really helped to enrich our
family relationships - which is always important but especially critical
when you have teens, as we do.
Dec 25, 2008 6:52 PM
Guest :
We will be taking a Caribbean cruise with our 2-year-old son in January for
my grandmother's 90th birthday celebration and we're thinking of flying to
Italy next late summer with our son to stay at his sister's house and to
see her, her husband and her daughter. Or we might fly out to California to
visit my husband's parents (all 4 of them!).
We have tons of
vacations planned for the future though. One will be cross country with our
son when he's 9 or 10 and still thinks we're cool!
Greta
Dec 25, 2008 6:55 PM
Guest :
Our family is planning a trip to Europe this summer. Four kids , and two
weeks in Paris and London.
Dec 25, 2008 7:08 PM
Shannon Hurst Lane :
This is similar to what happened after 9/11. People visited family and
explored the US more instead of international travel.
Dec 25, 2008 7:51 PM
Guest :
We will be watching to see if Obama changes any of Bush's so-called
security measures that take away too many rights and privacy from foreign
visitors before deciding whether to travel to the US or not (we are
Canadian).
We plan a long-weekend with friends at a rented
cottage in the winter to do tobogganing, snowshoeing, etc. We will probably
also go to Cuba for the 3rd year in a row to an all inclusive resort in
December.
Dec 28, 2008 7:47 AM
Guest :
"Romantic getaways will become mingled with family vacations" --
heaven forbid! Maybe from your perspective that's true, but there are
plenty of grown ups that consider a vacation a time when kids are both out
of sight and out of mind. Leave the rugrats home!
Dec 29, 2008 8:03 AM
Guest :
"Leave the rugrats home!" What? I think it is great when a
family can combine a business trip and a family trip.
Dec 29, 2008 11:18 AM
Guest :
Most families simply don't have the funds for separate kid-friendly and
adult-only vacations. Our middle class is shrinking as more and more
families are sliding down into the working poor.
Jan 2, 2009 7:56 AM
Guest :
Great article! As a travel agent who specializes in luxury family
vacations, I agree especially with the all-inclusive vacation. A cruise
www.royalcaribbean.com, a tour www.tauckbridges.com or a resort
www.clubmed.com which includes all meals, activities, tips, transportation,
child care are terrific! A family can leave home and not worry about
spending another dime - it's paid in advance in U.S. currency as well. My
clients are very thankful for the all-inclusive family vacation!
