Rise In Family Travel

A TripAdvisor survey shows many U.S. families will travel in 2011. Photo credit: PRNewsFoto/TripAdvisor.

TripAdvisor says its annual family travel survey shows many U.S. families will travel in 2011.

The travel site surveyed 1,600+ U.S. travelers.

Some 83 percent of survey respondents said they planned to take at least one vacation with family members in 2011, up 79 percent from 2010.

Here are some of the 2011 family survey results:

Top Destinations for Relations:

• 58 percent of travelers with children plan to take domestic-only family trips; 32 percent plan to travel both within the U.S. and internationally and a further 10 percent will take international-only trips.

Top five types of family trips in 2011:

1. Beach destination – 57%
2. City trip – 39%
3. Amusement park / theme park – 23%
4. Cultural trip – 21%
5. Camping / outdoors trip – 17%

Further Family Travel Findings:

• 37 percent of respondents plan to take a multi-generational family trip this year.

• The biggest challenge of taking a family vacation is finding activities the whole family likes, said 21 percent.

• 29 percent plan to travel for a major family event such as a reunion or wedding.

“Travelers may not be able to pick their families, but they can certainly choose whether or not to plan trips with them – and Americans intend to do so in their droves this year,” says Karen Drake, spokesperson for TripAdvisor.

“Family vacations are no longer the preserve of young kids and their parents, but a time for relations of all ages to come together for quality time.”