Family tourism

Families with children represent a significant proportion of the global population and an important market for tourism. Children and families form the closest and most important emotional bond in humans. It is this relationship that drives demand. It is estimated that this segment accounts for about 30 % of leisure travel (Travelhorizons 2009) and half of all visits to attractions in the United States.

A family unit is generally considered to consist of at least one adult and one child. Nonetheless the diverse combinations of parents, other adults, and children that coexist within households may all be defined as “families” (Carr 2011). There are four life-stage groups: pre-family/no family, family, third age (empty nest), and retirement.

In the United Kingdom, family holidays were embedded in the working class culture in the early 1900s. Entrepreneur Billy Butlin was among the first to recognize the importance of this market and set up holiday camps in the mid 1930s. This, for many...