Summer getaways can leave a big hole in households’ finances – but one way that families are saving money is the trend towards multiple generations enjoying one big holiday together.
New research shows just how popular they have become in recent years.
Nearly one in three (29%) people say that, in the past three years, they have been on a holiday which includes family members from at least two generations, according to a survey for savings provider Kent Reliance.
In many cases, it’s older generations who are footing the bill, with just over two-fifths (42%) of older parents paying for their adult children to join the getaway, forking out around £2,400 on average.
Perhaps partly due to their convenience, staycations are a popular choice when it comes to getting all the family together on holiday.
The UK was found to be the most popular destination for family holidays involving multiple generations (40%) followed by Europe (37%).
Yet some families are travelling further afield together – whether to Asia (5%), North America (5%) or Africa (5%).
As well as being easier on the wallet, for many people, these holidays are also valuable for enhancing family relationships, with three-quarters (73%) of people saying that they have had a strong impact on their family bond.
Meanwhile, 47% now regard them as a tradition and something they do regularly – and 60% of those who have been on multigeneration holidays say they are the trips they look forward to the most.
The survey of 4,000 people across the UK, carried out by Opinium in May, indicates that Londoners are the most likely to holiday with their family, with 39% having done so in the past three years.
At the other end of the spectrum, people in Wales are least likely, with a fifth (20%) having recently holidayed with wider family members.
Louise Halliwell, group savings director at Kent Reliance, says: “Multigenerational holidays are a mainstay of how families come together to spend time with each other and create cherished memories.”
For those embarking on a big family holiday, it may be worth considering the differing budgets that people within the group may have.
Holidaymakers can be mindful of this by coming up with a range of activities at different price points so there’s something for a range of budgets – and not expecting everyone to join in all of them.
Hopefully this will help families to head off any potential resentments, which could cast a shadow over the trip.
If there’s a big group of people going away together, it may also be worth considering going self-catering, so the family as a whole can save money by cooking in big batches.
Here are the percentages of people who have been on a multigenerational family holiday in the last three years, according to the research:
London, 39%
North West England, 32%
North East England, 31%
South West and East of England, 30%
Yorkshire and the Humber, 28%
Northern Ireland, East Midlands and West Midlands, 26%
Scotland and the South East of England, 25%
Wales, 20%
