Jamie Biesiada
Family travel is an important category for many advisors.
Travel Weekly's 2023 Travel Industry Survey found that 90% of respondents selected family travel as one of their top five specializations; 63% said family was their first or second focus.
And the space is booming, advisors report.
Samantha McClure, owner of Small World Travel in Austin, Texas, has planned family travel exclusively for the past 25 years.
"It has definitely exploded in the last 10 years or so," McClure said.
Sarah Sullivan, an advisor affiliated with Jetset World Travel, agreed.
"Family travel is absolutely booming, year over year," Sullivan said. "I'm surprised -- well, I guess I shouldn't be surprised anymore. Even though we have inflation, the demand is crazy. Prices continue to go up. People are still prioritizing family travel."
While the early days of the pandemic impacted all kinds of travel, including the family category, both advisors theorized it made families value their time together even more. Especially when that time together is off making memories on trips.
New class of family travel
Sullivan is seeing an interesting trend recently: well-traveled families choosing what she's dubbing "201" destinations.
"They've done the Caribbean, they've done Florida, they've done Europe 101; I feel like now we're doing the 201 of everything," she said. "You've done Costa Rica, so what's the 201 of Central or South America? You know, let's go to Argentina. Let's go to Chile. Let's go to Galapagos."
Or, Sullivan said, families who have been to London and Paris might opt for Croatia or Slovenia.
Change in long-term family trips
McClure is also seeing an interesting trend.
For the last 15 years, her specialty has been planning long-term trips for families.
"They're becoming more and more popular," McClure said.
And they've changed a bit in nature: Previously, a family might opt for a six- to 12-month trip if a parent sold a company or quit a job, she said.
"Now, it's people who are working from the road and doing sabbaticals for three to six to 12 months and weaving work and family into it," McClure said.
For advisors planning family trips this year, McClure suggested visiting top destinations in off-peak times; for instance, Europe for spring break, Thanksgiving or Christmas, not summer.