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You got there how? New survey shatters a few myths about family vacations

August 17, 2009

roadPop quiz: When Americans go on vacation, how do they travel?

If you guessed that they fly, then you’ve been reading the work of my friends in the mainstream media — and oh, alright, me too — who would want you to believe everyone boards a plane. Not so, according to a just-released survey by Expedia.

A majority of Americans take their family vacations by car (59 percent) while just over a quarter say they fly. Less than 1 in 10 take a cruise, with the balance going by bus or train.

And that’s not the only surprise.


Here’s what else the survey revealed about our vacation proclivities:

• Let’s have dinner instead. Asked to name the best way to “create family memories” only 38 percent said you should take a week-long family vacation (come on, folks — the survey was conducted for Expedia; buy a clue!). The exact same percentage, surprisingly, answered “eating dinner together.” I’d say that’s a more affordable option. One in five respondents opted for a spur-of-the-moment getaway, better known as a staycation.

• Not everyone goes. A shocking one in ten respondents said they’ve never been on a family vacation. Roughly the same number of respondents said it had been more than 20 years since their last family vacation. All told, about a quarter of the respondents to the survey said they hadn’t been away with their families in more than 10 years — if ever.

• We’ll take the sofa. Only 27 percent of Americans who were surveyed say they stayed at a resort while they were on vacation. Almost the same amount — 20 percent — said they checked into a relative’s home. Slightly fewer (17 percent) bunked down at a motel, while 10 percent stayed in a rental home and the same number pitched a tent.

Taken together, these numbers suggest we could probably all use a real vacation.

But they also paint a different picture of the American family vacation from the one we assume is true. We don’t really fly. We prefer to stay with relatives. We stick close to home.

Maybe it’s time to think a little differently about travel.

(Photo: Billie/Flickr Creative Commons)

Christopher Elliott is the author of Scammed: How to Save Your Money and Find Better Service in a World of Schemes, Swindles, and Shady Deals. Critics have called it “eye-opening” and “inspiring” — it’ll “grab your attention and won’t let go.” Order your copy now on Amazon, Barnes & Noble or iTunes.

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10 comments

  • Justin

    Elliott,

    I am sure you being a travel writer / ombudsman / family person can take a quick tally of costs. Now, perks aside, airline tickets aren’t cheap. If you have a family that wants to go on vacation (Wife / You / 2 Kids or in your case 3), you are talking some major money. Let’s assume 4 need airline tickets and 1 is under the age of 2. That would AT LEAST be 1200-1500 dollars JUST to get to your destination. Hotel, events, and other such activities of course not included in the price. At the end of the day, you are talking several thousand dollars.

    Now, if a family chooses to drive, you can stuff all those people in a car and make it to a destination for a few hundred bucks. Even with today’s gas prices. I drove 1200 miles in my car when I moved 1.5 yrs ago for about 125 dollars. Figure someone with less fuel efficiency could do that for around 200. Sure beats the 1200-1500 price. I guess for the budget minded consumer in hard economic times (or just every day sense), driving is practical. Sure you have to do it yourself and no one is taking you there. Yet, look at the savings.

    My 2 cents here. I bet you’d agree. Americans drive because driving is SIMPLY the best way to go about travel for most. Cost, the ability to stop and see things along the way, and the sheer adventure.

    Justin

  • Carver

    I can’t speak for others, but I don’t believe that air travel gets the lion’s share of coverage because everyone does it. To the contrary, its gets the best converage because it unusual. What is normative becomes commonplace and hence not newsworthy. The fact that airline travel gets the most coverage and auto travel less strongly suggests that airline travel is the rarer form of travel.

    Cruises get little converaage because they are so rare that they don’t hit critical mass.

    And that makes sense. I drive my car to work 5-7 days a week to work. I drive to the grocery store, the mall, to my friends, etc. Even when I fly, I drive once I get to my destination. Therefore, driving to a vacation spot doesn’t pose nearly the same number of unusual issues that an airline flight does.

  • Katie

    Growing up, we couldn’t afford family vacations, so the only ones we ever had where the ones where my Grandparents took us all camping or something like that. But, now that I am grown up, my husband and I (who don’t have kids) take a couple of “family” vacations a year…We fly places, we drive places, we go on cruises (7 now…), and we have a blast!

    I think it all comes down to logistics – like Justin mentioned, the more people in your family, the more costs you have. Granted, there are ways to get great deals for family travel if you have the time and patience to shop around, but it still adds up. So, I completely understand why, for many people, it’s more practical to drive to vacation.

    On a personal note, though, I am not a huge fan of staying with family when I travel…I would rather have the luxury to have some “me” time and not worrying about stepping on family’s routine/toes. When my mom lived in Tennessee, it worked out OK because they had a finished basement that was like a whole other house, but, otherwise, I will take the Best Western, thank you :o)

  • IRG

    Those who fly all the time assume (incorrectly) that others must also fly to get anywhere, including a vacation.

    The results of the survey are not surprising to those who have, for years and years, and years, driven all over the U.S. for leisure trips and/or vacations.

    Virtually every family I know in the U.S. has traveled extensively in the past and currently via car for “family” trips. They don’t love it, because long drives with kids are challenging. But sometimes it really is both a cost and time-saver. (Yea, that sounds odd considering flying is supposed to shorten travel time. But we know how that works today. NOT)

    We also know families who chose not to fly today because of concerns about serious delays, getting stuck on the plane with their kids and other reasons having to do with control of your time and convenience. Not just cost.

    Flying is a huge hassle today. If the airlines wonder why ticket sales are down, even with lower prices, they should consider how trying the experience is for a family with children of any age.

    I know women who would rather endure multi-day car trips than deal with the problems of air travel, not to mention their fellow passengers and flight attendants who often make the travel far worse than it has to be.

    I’m surprised that YOU are surprised by the numbers. I’d think a travel expert would know that travel is more than air travel!

  • Mletta

    Chris writes:
    Maybe it’s time to think a little differently about travel.

    Duh…the travel industry is woefully unaware of the “real” world of travel for families. They live in some fantasy land where people have $$$ to throw around as well as time off that isn’t required for other things.

    None of the stats you cited are surprising to “real” people. For many people a “vacation” means visiting relatives, as it is the only time they get to see people in the family, whether that is how they’d truly like to spend their time.

    “Vacation” for most people is time off. It doesn’t mean it’s fun time off flying all over to fancy resorts. It hasn’t ever been that way.

    The travel industry only cares about who spends money. Not those who can’t afford it.

    So, what a surprise. The industry is clueless about how people really travel.

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  • Tom

    Median family income in the US is about $50,000. Of the folks living in the United States, 40 million live in poverty. For each family that vacations in Hawaii, there’s another one who have never left the city they live in. Travel magazines and the travel sections of newspapers are written exclusively for the narrower share at the top that has lots of extra time and money — the group of greatest interest to the advertisers who pay for travel media. There are two Americas — one buys their entertainment, the other makes it themselves.

  • Tom

    It’s odd that people travel the world to find out how other people live and then have no idea how people live in their own town. If you want to broaden your children’s view of the world, maybe you should skip the trip to Paris and instead spend a week volunteering nearer to home.

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