More Vacationers Traveling With Other Families, Extended Families
ORLANDO, Fla., Oct. 10 Almost eight out of ten active leisure travelers took at least one vacation with extended family, other families or friends during the past five years according to a new survey authored by Yesawich, Pepperdine, Brown & Russell (YPB&R), the travel services marketing firm headquartered in Orlando, Florida. Dubbed "Togethering(TM)" by YPB&R, this trend is expected to grow in the years ahead as more families seek additional leisure time and experiences together.
The findings amplify similar trends observed in YPB&R's annual National Leisure Travel Monitor. When asked about vacation alternatives, 69% of active travelers cited "spend time with family" as very or extremely important in 2003 (up from 57% in 2000), and 54% cited "spend time with friends" (up from 43% in 2000). Furthermore, fully 35% of adult leisure travelers took at least one vacation with children during the previous year (up from 26% in 2000). "These trends reflect the growing importance of 'family' in the aftermath of 9/11, as well as the frenetic pace of life in dual-income households where children are present," said Peter C. Yesawich, managing partner of the firm. "In fact, family vacations in America are now viewed as 'mini-reunions' and an occasion on which to 'reunite' family and friends, even if only for a few days."
Eighty two percent of such multi-household leisure trips were taken with extended family, 68% with friends and 46% with other families. The average number of people traveling in the party was just over seven. Fully 26% of such trips included eight or more people.
While "Togethering," four out of ten adults organized group dining events and a comparable percentage organized group recreational events.
Slightly over half of survey respondents (51%) identified Florida as the best destination for multi-household leisure trips, followed by California
(35%) and Hawaii (26%). Among adults citing Florida as their preferred destination, fully two-thirds stated they were interested in visiting Walt Disney World.
"Togethering" is likely to become more popular in the future because of the growing importance of family in our post-9/11 culture," said Dennis Marzella, executive vice president and director of research for YPB&R. "The survey data clearly support this: fully 37% of adults told us they were planning to take more of such trips in the years ahead."
The survey was conducted with 1,655 active leisure travelers during the month of August 2003. All estimates are accurate to within +/- three percent at 95% confidence.
Yesawich, Pepperdine, Brown & Russell is America's leading marketing, advertising and public relations agency serving travel and leisure-industry clients. Headquartered in Orlando, Fla., the firm currently serves over 50 clients from offices in Orlando, New York, Los Angeles and Honolulu.
