What
The Family Travel Association (FTA) officially launched #TakeFamilyTime, a new campaign that encourages families to use all their earned vacation days, as well as the industry as a whole to support services that remove the challenges to this type of travel.
Why It Matters
Surveys show that more than half of parents don’t use their paid time off. Not only do family vacations create lifelong memories, but they also help children become better citizens of the world. Advisors can use the FTA campaign as an excuse to check in on family clients and start a conversation.
Fast Facts
- Americans left 768 million vacation days unused in 2018, up 9% from the year before.
- The annual Family Travel Association (FTA) NYU 2019 Family Travel Survey showed that 55% of parents who have paid vacation days said they didn’t use all their time off in the previous year.
- In the five years since the survey has been conducted, the percentage of parents taking all their time off has always been less than 50%.
- The FTA reported that the No. 1 reason that families didn’t use time off was other household budget priorities (43%), followed by concern for the care of pets at home (32%) and the perception that family vacations are too expensive (31%).
- The FTA website hosts a PSA video about the #TakeFamilyTime campaign and will be hosting live discussions on Facebook that includes interviews with travel advisors, bloggers and influencers, industry experts, family psychologists and others. A Take Family Time newsletter will feature articles from FTA members.
- The FTA comprises more than 370 travel agents, industry suppliers, tourism bureaus and destination management companies.
- The 2019 Family Travel Survey was conducted in June 2019 with support from G Adventures, Travel + Leisure and Parents magazine.
What They Are Saying
“Being a modern family is hard on vacation planning, and our research indicates the challenges families face are only getting more difficult,” said Rainer Jenss, president and founder of the FTA. “We consider this a wake-up call for the family travel industry.”
The Details
Family Travel Association
www.familytravel.org
