Family travel is a blazing hot trend on the Internet. Everyone from the usual suspects, like Disney’s Family.com, to less likely players, such as adventure travel site Gorp.com, are clamoring to attract the so-called “family traveler.”
The stats go a long way to explaining what the fuss is about. The oft-quoted Travel Industry Association of America claims that a quarter of family travelers use the Internet to make travel plans. More than two-thirds of the purchases are big-ticket leisure trips, and the median household income of the family traveler is around $50,000.
I don’t know about you, but I can’t handle all of these euphemisms. When our industry talks about family travel, I’m convinced that it really means children’s travel. When travel sites open new sections, launch new columns, or add new applets for the “family traveler,” they are actually trying to sway the hearts and minds of our kids in a none-too-subtle way.
There’s nothing wrong with that, from a business perspective. According to United States Census Bureau figures, 10- to 24-year-olds have $250 billion worth of disposable income. Teenagers alone spend an astounding $140 billion each year in the real world. There are currently 16 million teens and kids online, and that number is expected to double by next year.
It doesn’t take a manager with an MBA to see a business opportunity there. Become the dominant site in the family travel niche, and the rewards could be considerable. And indeed, there are rumors that the likes of American Express and Rosenbluth International are either in the process of setting up children’s travel sites or are contemplating it.
But so far, no single online travel company has stepped forward and staked a claim in the kids’ travel niche. Here are the obstacles – and opportunities – that such a move might involve: ·
- Obstacle #1: Parents. Look at all of the trouble that sites peddling everything from toys to breakfast cereal got into during the 90s, and you’ve got a good idea of what to expect here. But wait! There’s more! When you’re pitching a Backstreet Boys CD or a box of Wheaties, parents can be forgiving. But when the little ones are trying to persuade Mom and Dad to take their next vacation at the Mansion on Turtle Creek in Dallas, it’s quite another.
Opportunity: Children are impressionable users (no pun intended). Once they’ve been sold on a product, parents can be like putty in their hands. It’s a controversial – but bankable – marketing strategy.
- Obstacle #2: The government. Three years ago, Vice President Al Gore (you know, the guy who invented the Internet) told a summit on kids online that the government had charged Internet industries with “taking the responsibility and taking the lead for making the Internet safe for children.” But who’s to say what safe is? Since then, it’s been apparent that the government and business can’t agree on much when it comes to the Internet, including taxes, privacy and what kind of protection the young are entitled to.
Opportunity: Gridlock, to paraphrase Wall Street villain Gordon Gecko, is good. As long as the Internet remains unregulated, there’s more freedom for your business to capitalize on this opportunity. That’s not to say you shouldn’t operate without a moral compass, but at the same time, the lack of laws afford your company an opening that it can’t afford to miss.
- Obstacle #3: Confusion. Teen-agers represent 39 million consumers who currently control $140 billion in purchasing power, according to a recent survey. But depending on the analyst – and his or her methodology – the prognosis is either good or very good for the future (at the far end of the spectrum, a research firm that shall remain nameless is calling for a 19-fold increase in online buying by teens between 1999 and 2002). Then factor in other surveys that use other age benchmarks like “Generation ‘Y’” or a definition of “children” that overlaps with “teens” and you’ve got a real statistical headache in the making. How do you make your investors understand?
Opportunity: Here’s where your instincts can serve you well. Will there be a 19-fold increase in teen buying online? Probably not, but who cares? The important thing is that you not let the numbers keep you from doing what the competition is quite likely to try six months from now.
I see a lot of big players with their proverbial toe in this “family” travel pool, but no one is jumping in. This is a market that’s best served by a Web site that does one thing well, not a multitasking, category-killer Web travel monolith. If the obstacles I just described can be overcome by a forward-looking online travel company – and they eventually will be – then it will get first dibs on a lucrative industry niche.
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.
Elliott is consumer advocate 
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