Longwoods International and the Family Travel Association Release their First Profile of the American Family Traveler
Longwoods International, a leader in tourism market research, and the Family Travel Association, the leading coalition of the family travel industry, have teamed up to produce a new profile of family travel in the United States. Their study, released today, is called the Profile of the American Family Traveler. It taps into Longwoods ongoing Travel USA® panel database to provide a comprehensive view of the size, scope and trends of families traveling with children. Comprising a sample of over 96,000 family trips, this new study is one of the largest profiles of the family travel market ever produced.
The study confirms that the family travel market is a vital and valuable segment of the travel industry, representing 35% of all domestic travel. With travel spending averaging 39% higher than non-family travelers, family travel is a significant driver of economic activity across the travel industry. And with more than half of family travel trips classified as discretionary travel, they represent a fertile opportunity for marketing outreach by all categories of travel suppliers. Demographically, family travelers are a highly attractive target segment. Family travel adults skew younger (38 is the average age), are more likely to be married/partnered (74%), and are more actively employed (61%) than non-family travel adults. They skew more towards higher income brackets, with 43% of family travel adults having household incomes of $75,000 or more.
"The Family Travel Association is thrilled to be joining forces with Longwoods International to deepen our research and understanding of the family travel market,' said Peter Bopp, Family Travel Association's Director of Strategy. 'Their extensive trend data on family travel behaviors is providing a depth of insights that will be highly valued by our members and the industry at large. This new partnership further enhances the FTA's ongoing mission to better understand the family travel marketplace and its economic impact.'
'We are excited to partner with the Family Travel Association to provide its members with access to essential insights for this important segment of the domestic leisure travel market,' said Amir Eylon, President of Longwoods International. 'We look forward to building upon this great collaboration and growing the knowledge base on behalf of the Family Travel Association's membership.'
This first Profile of American Family Travel report, released today, represents insights gathered from Longwoods 2016 Travel USA® panel. A summary report of the profile will be distributed this week at the Destination Capitol Hill conference in Washington DC. The full profile report will be posted on the Family Travel Association's website, familytravel.org. The profile will be updated annually, with the 2017 Profile scheduled to be released in the fall of 2018. Longwoods International is a leading travel and tourism research company with offices in Toronto; Columbus, OH; Scottsdale, AZ; Arlington, TX; and Lake Geneva, WI. It conducts Longwoods Travel USA®, the largest ongoing survey of American travelers, as well as image, advertising effectiveness, advertising return on investment and other custom research in 12 countries around the globe.
The Family Travel Association is a coalition of the travel industry's leading suppliers, resources and experts on the subject of traveling with children. Its mission is to inspire families to travel by promoting all the child-friendly experiences that families can share together, educating the public on all the positive and lasting benefits travel affords young people, and simplifying the process of planning a trip.
Download the Press Release (PDF)