Asian families travel twice as much as Western families

by The Star – Asia News Network, KL

When it comes to vacations, Asian travellers take twice as many family trips as their Western peers.

The Agoda Family Travel Trends 2018 survey found that over 34% travellers took more than five family trips in the past year. Asia dominates this multi-holiday trend with a remarkable 77% of travellers from Thailand and 62% from the Philippines, claiming to have taken five or more family breaks in the past year.

At the same time, only 7% of British travellers took more than five family trips. Malaysians on average went on four family trips in the last year. The results show that 74% of Malaysian travellers have travelled with their core family in the past year.

A four to seven-night stay is the most popular duration for family holidays globally but there are large variances across markets. In Britain, a four to seven-night stay made up 41% of family travel in the past year, compared to only 20% of family travel for Thais.

Instead, family vacations of more than two weeks are taken by almost a third of Thais but only 11% of Malaysians. Also, Vietnamese, Malaysian and Chinese families prefer shorter three-day vacations.

The survey also looked into who was included in family vacations and found that 35% of global travellers have taken a holiday with grandparents.

Thais (66%) and Indonesians (54%) were most likely to include grandparents in their holiday plans, while travellers from Britain (13%) and Australia (20%) were the least likely to do so. When examining anxieties relating to family travel, concerns about falling sick (36%), the standard of accommodation (21%) and family disagreements (16%) ranked highest for family travellers globally.

The study, conducted by YouGov, polled over 10,000 respondents who have travelled at least once in the past year.

SOURCES: The Star, Agoda

HEADLINE PHOTO: Paul Rutter Speaks