19 February 2008 Family holiday destinations
Family holidays have altered over the years. Once associated with weekend breaks to UK coastal destinations, globalisation and budget airlines have now resulted in families travelling further afield for their summer breaks.
This factor in itself has also changed. No longer is a family holiday a once-annual event as many UK consumers take multiple trips each year. And these holidays are not necessarily restricted to the summer months, but to winter, Easter and autumn breaks too.
Take the Family recently reported that at Christmas and the New Year destinations such as the Seychelles are "fabulous" for family holidays.
Indeed the Ski Club of Great Britain recently issued its own advice to families booking ski holidays over the February half term.
Noting that it is best to book a ski holiday in France that does not coincide with the local school holidays, the Ski Club advised that Britons think carefully before taking their children out of school during term-time for a winter sports break.
Indeed ski holidays have been so popular this year that queues at the bottom of the main lift in Verbier were 40 minutes in length during the half term holiday week this February.
"The main trick for holidaying at this time of year is to be organised," the Ski Club advises.
According to the organisation, it is important to book children into ski school as early as possible while restaurants should also be booked well in advance.
Meanwhile, snow conditions in European resorts are currently reported to be good for those currently enjoying the second week of half term on the slopes.
Beach holidays in the summer are still popular among families, Take the Family reports.
However, according to managing director Lucy Ace, families are increasingly travelling abroad on their holidays to "more adventurous" destinations.
She observed that there has been a "huge" rise in the number of last-minute family holidays being booked.
"Families are definitely becoming more adventurous, we feature trips for young children to South America and the Far East. We even have infant adventure holidays where children over one year old can enjoy Jordan and the Dead Sea, or the pyramids in Egypt," she added.
Nonetheless, Ms Ace reported that beach holidays remain firm favourites among families.
In particular, the managing director claimed that such holidays were perfect for families containing smaller children.
She observed that a warm and sandy beach can keep children "entertained for hours". Additionally, destinations like Italy and Spain have "child friendly cultures" which when combined with top beaches makes for a "winning" combination.
In a break from the norm, Kirker Holidays has reported that there has been a "significant increase" in popularity of city breaks among families.
Director of sales and marketing Ted Wake observed that parents are moving away from so-called "sugar-coated" breaks to theme parks and instead taking their children on more stimulating holidays to cities such as Venice, Cairo and New York.
Short breaks are also a growing trend among those taking family holidays, with Mr Wake observing that "it's more practical to [spend quality time together] on a short break".
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