Holidays that close the generation gap

Mike and family: Three generations having a ball together on holiday

Whether people are holidaying at home or abroad, multi-generational holidays are on the rise.

Mike, his parents Stella and Robert, his kids James and Jessica and his partner Claire are all holidaying together in Matlock.

Mike jokes that "it helps they've got a credit card", but there's a grain of truth to that.

Stella nods in agreement and says: "Grandma is always treating them. They know who to come to if they want anything!"

We asked some of the biggest names in the travel industry for both UK and foreign travel - and all of them said holidays with parents, grandparents and children are becoming more common.

Each of the companies work out their statistics differently, some from bookings, some from passenger surveys, but the picture they all paint is the same.

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Thomas Cook's holiday survey shows the number of families going away together, or considering it in the future, has risen from 57% in 2017 to 64% in 2019.

EasyJet's passenger survey suggests 73% have taken a multi-generational holiday.

Ryanair says that in the past five years, inter-generational bookings have risen by 52%.

Tui's passenger survey in June 2019 suggests that 79% of young adults are choosing to holiday with their mum and dad.

UK and foreign holidays alike are following the same trend

Virgin carried out a survey of 1,000 parents and 1,000 grandparents in April 2019, which suggests seven out of 10 families have taken a multi-generational holiday.

Virgin also says one in four grandparents admits they enjoyed the break far more than they would have done if they went solo.

The Awaze group, which owns Hoseasons and cottages.com, conducted a poll in which 85% of respondents said they would consider a UK break where children, parents and grandparents holiday together.

And Haven and Butlins owner Bourne Leisure says this spring, there was an increase of 9.4% in families holidaying together compared with last year.

A major attraction for most families is cost. Splitting the bill for accommodation and food makes sense, as holidays are likely to be the biggest outlay of the year.

Rebecca Harris from Awaze says the accommodation has to be right

There's also the benefit of extra help with childcare. The chance for parents to have a night off or a lie-in might be worth any additional stress that going on holiday with extra family members might bring.

But most of the families we've spoken to say it's simply nice to be all together in an unhurried environment, especially as families increasingly live in different towns and cities.

As a result of this growing trend to holiday as a big family group, holiday companies are playing catch-up to create accommodation and activities suitable for more people with a diverse age range.

Rebecca Harris from Awaze Travel Group says: "If you're a large family, you need extra space. So bedrooms with en-suite facilities, plenty of open-plan living for everybody to come together.

"They're holidaying together, they want to spend time together, and that's really important they can have that space together."