The evolution of the family holiday
In just a generation, the face of the family holiday has changed dramatically, with children travelling further and to a wider range of destinations than ever before, according to research from Aviva Travel Insurance.
The survey of 1,006 UK parents found that over the past generation, the proportion of families going overseas for their holidays has risen significantly. While 94% of parents said their own children had been abroad before the age of 16, just 4 in 10 (39%) had been abroad themselves when they were young, a difference of 55%.
Children are also travelling to further flung destinations than their parents ever did. While just 2% of today's parents had been to North America when they were young, over a quarter (28%) have now taken their own children to the USA or Canada. Closer to home, just 26% of today's parents said they had been to Europe when they were a child yet 73% said they had since taken their own children to the continent.
Of the people who take their children on two foreign holidays a year, 94% go to Europe and 51% go to the USA. Assuming a trip to the south of Spain and another to Florida, these children would have flown over 10,000 miles per year, meaning they would possibly have flown the equivalent of seven times around the globe by the time they were 16.
Even destinations that have traditionally been the preserve of students or the very wealthy are seeing parents visiting with children, including North Africa (8% have taken their children), Asia (7%) and the Caribbean (6%)
Children's Travel Habits Then and Now
Children today are also travelling abroad a lot more often than their parents ever did. In terms of frequency, the percentage of people taking their children away on average once a year has risen from 30% of parents when they were a child, to 50% who take their children abroad this often now. Additionally, the percentage of children going abroad more than once a year has risen by a half from 8% when parents were children themselves, to 12% who take their children abroad this frequently now.
Over the past few years the risk of travel disruption has increased. Over a quarter of people questioned in separate Aviva research said that their travel plans had been delayed by at least one of the major travel disruptions in 2010, such as the Icelandic volcano in April, the BA strikes of May and June and snow and ice closing airports in the winter.
In response to this, Aviva has launched travel disruption cover, an optional add-on to its existing travel policy. This offers wider cover in the event of strike, industrial action or cancellation due to FCO warnings, pandemics or natural disasters, including earthquakes and tsunamis, preventing your departure from the UK; and also similar cover for abandonment of your holiday if you have to return home early due to any of these events.
In addition, this new section will provide cover for missed connections outside the UK, as well as a 12 hourly benefit for delayed departure outside the UK.
Other new features that Aviva has introduced as standard to its policies include online documents and medical screening, meaning that the whole transaction can be completed online even for people with pre-existing medical conditions. The upper age limits have also been increased from 69 to 74 for annual multi-trip policies and to 79 for single trip policies.
Jerry Finch, travel insurance product manager, said, "It is often said that the world is getting smaller and nowhere is the huge increase in the extent of our travel more apparent than the distances and range of places that people have been to before the age of 16. Children nowadays are better travelled and have experienced a wider range of cultures than ever before.
"However, we have seen recently that travellers have been affected by an increased risk of disruption to their plans. It is therefore important that people have the right level of cover to ensure that even if their arrangements are hit by unavoidable events, they are not left to pay the price.
"That's why Aviva's travel insurance now has the option to include travel disruption cover. This follows the add-on we launched last year to cover airspace closure, an issue that has featured prominently in the news lately, with the recent volcanic activity in Iceland and Chile."