Hotels.com Reports 100% Increase In Travel In One Generation
Released
on: October 30, 2009, 5:15 am
Author: Hotels.com
Industry: Travel
Hotels.com
revealed the results of a new survey which shows that, in the
course of a generation, the number of countries visited by an
Irish under-16 year old has doubled. The survey was conducted
by Hotels.com through Rollercoaster.ie, Ireland's leading website
for parents.
While
a child today will have visited an average of six different countries
by the age of 16, their parents had visited an average of three
countries by the same age - a 100% increase in travel in just
one generation.
While
the rise in popularity of European city and beach breaks has contributed
to children from Ireland venturing overseas, today's under-16s
are also heading further afield. The Hotels.com research showed
that 24% of children have been to America by their sixteenth birthday,
whilst 5% have been to destinations in Asia and Australia. According
to the research, almost every child in Ireland (98%) has made
a trip to a European destination by the time they reach 16.
Alison Couper, Director of Communications at Hotels.com, said:
"Irish children today are better travelled than ever with
almost every under-16 year old experiencing countries abroad according
to our research.
"While
a generation ago, one-in-four Irish people hadn't ventured overseas
by 16, now the same percentage of today's youngsters have been
to an average of eight countries by the time they reach their
sixteenth birthday, which is a huge turnaround between parents
and their own children."
Parents'
desire for their children to experience a range of countries and
cultures early is the driver behind their offspring's travels.
86% of parents who responded to the Hotels.com survey said that
experiencing different countries and cultures is important for
their child's education. Learning another language was cited as
a key reason for taking children overseas by over half of the
parents surveyed (51%).
Carol
Buckley, Editor of Rollercoaster.ie commented: "It comes
as no surprise to me that children of this generation are experiencing
the world at a much faster pace than their parents ever could
by the same age. Access to affordable travel over the last decade
in particular has enabled families to reach destinations which
would have been a rarity in their parents' time. It's also encouraging
to see that parents appreciate the cultural benefits to their
children of visiting foreign countries."
The
research found that parents consider their children seeing the
world as so important that 79% of those surveyed let the decision
on where to holiday be influenced by where the youngsters in the
family would like to go.
Alison
Couper concluded: "This survey shows that Irish parents are
very keen for their child to experience travel and open their
minds to new cultures and destinations. Our research suggests
that despite cut backs in other areas, people see their family
holiday as an important way of spending time together."
Notes
to editor:
The survey of 361 people was conducted by Hotels.com through the
rollercoaster.ie website between July and September 2009.
About
Hotels.com
As part of the Expedia group which operates in all major markets,
Hotels.com offers more than 100,000 quality hotels, B&Bs and
serviced apartments worldwide including New
York hotels, hotels
in London, Rome
hotels and hotels
in Dublin. If a customer can find the same deal for less on
a prepaid hotel, Hotels.com will match it. Hotels.com benefits
from one of the largest hotel contracting teams in the industry
negotiating the best rates for its customers, plus there are 1.3m
reviews from users who have actually stayed in the hotels to ensure
customers make an informed choice when booking. Hotels.com won
the Gold Award for best hotel booking site in Webuser magazine
in February 2009.
PR
Contact:
Cordy Griffiths
Hotels.com
42 Earlham St
Covent Garden
London
WC2H 9LA
020 7019 2268
www.hotels.co.uk
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