NEW YORK -- The hottest family destinations in Europe, according to
tour operators that specialize in the market, tend to be more rural
and outdoorsy than urban and chic.
They include southwestern Ireland's Kerry peninsula for
horseback riding and walking tours; the Italian countryside for
accommodations with swimming pools and the child-adoration factor,
and France's Loire Valley for cycling among chateaux.
Karen Lancaster, president of Cross Country International,
Millbrook, N.Y., which offers walking and horseback riding
vacations, estimated that 25% of her clients -- which total about
8,000 riders and 5,000 walkers per year -- are families, and
increasingly single-parent families.
"I think the days are over when the parents go on one vacation
and the children go to camp," Lancaster said. "I think parents feel
they don't spend enough time with their kids."
Ireland is the operator's most popular European destination and
well-suited for family travel, Lancaster said, adding that sharing
a common interest on vacation can be invaluable for family
bonding.
For example, one of her clients has taken a horseback riding
trip every year with her daughter, starting when she was 11 through
age 18. "It helped her and her daughter get along during the
teenage years," the mother told Lancaster.
One of Cross Country's more popular programs, the Ring of Kerry
Walk, is priced at $1,285 per person, including six days of
walking, seven nights' bed-and-breakfast accommodations and daily
dinner.
The tour features an optional visit to the sixth century
monastic Great Skellig island, which sits off Kerry peninsula.
Cross Country pays agents 15% commission and does not discount
package prices for children.
David Diliberto, president of Caravella Italia in Philadelphia,
is gung-ho about Italy, where the operator arranges custom-designed
tours for four or more people.
"Italians love kids," he said. "If you have kids, you're like a
star."
The operator's land-only tours are usually sold net to agents;
if preferred, a commission of 8% is given.
Prices range from $300 to $600 per person, per day.
Of the 14 custom groups Caravella Italia had in June, nine were
families, Diliberto, said. In July, eight of 13 groups were
families.
Diliberto said his average family group size ranges from five to
seven people, as grandparents also tend to come along, especially
among Italian-American families, which accounted for five of the
operator's nine family groups in June.
Caravella Italia tends to book families in hotels with swimming
pools, which often rules out staying in Rome, Venice or
Florence.
"But nobody goes just to the [countryside]," Diliberto said.
"We'll usually include at least one city in there because that's
what they want, and it's a nice mix."
The family travel division of Backroads, Berkeley, Calif., a
multisport and soft adventure-oriented operator, had its greatest
success this year with France, particularly the Loire Valley, a
region where the firm had eight family departures.
A ninth family departure to France visited Brittany and
Normandy.
The operator has 26 family departures to Europe in 2000, up from
14 in 1999.
Groups usually number about four families and are limited in
size to 24 people.
One of the hotter Loire Valley trips this past summer, the
five-night East of Tours in the Regal Touraine cycling package, is
priced at $2,798 per person for 2001. Youth rates are discounted
when sharing a room with two adults: 40% for ages 3 to 6, for
example, and 20% for ages 7 to 10.
When a child shares a room with one adult or two children share
a room, a 10% discount applies to children ages 16 and younger.
Backroads Family Travel commissions are based on volume and start
at 10%.