NEW YORK – With American families representing 14% of outbound travelers, and international families increasingly a part of the $220 billion-dollar inbound market, leading media and travel industry executives convened at the 3rd annual TMS Family Travel Summit in Riviera Nayarit, Mexico, to discuss data, trends and proposed strategies to reach the new international family travel market.
"Orlando, which boasts more than 62 million visitors a year, is actively trying to grow the number of international family visitors," said Denise Spiegel, Director of Global Publicity for Visit Orlando, at the TMS Family Travel Summit.
"International travel is essential to our growth," agreed John Percy, President and CEO of the Niagara Tourism and Convention Corporation, which is seeing a surge of family travelers from south India. Added Toby O’ Rourke, Senior Vice President of Marketing at the world’s largest camping association: "Some KOA campgrounds report that 50% of their guests are from outside the US."
Participants meeting April 23-25th, 2015 agreed that technology has helped parents and grandparents around the globe recognize the educational value of travel.
 |
| credit: International Travel Motivators; courtesy MMGY Global |
Key findings from TMS Family Travel Summit include:
Family travelers stay longer and spend 50% more on average than international leisure travelers, and should be marketed to with special programs.
87% of families report kids have a large and influential role in planning where families go and what they do when they get there.
73% of international family travelers say experiencing different cultures motivates trip, but safety (86%) and ease of getting there (83%) influence destination choice.
Speakers from Yahoo! Travel, ABC News, Travel Weekly, Trivago, Meredith, Mexico Tourism Board and others, as well as leading analysts from D.K. Shifflet, MMGY Global and Google, discussed the trends.
 |
| credit: International Travel Spending; courtesy D.K. Shifflet & Associates |
Families are searching and booking online and increasingly on their smartphones, sharing their experiences in real time via social networks, forcing the travel industry to market with a cross-channel approach. Families are also spending more on curated travel; education and time together rank higher in value to than the lowest price.
Eileen Ogintz of Taking the Kids, Kyle McCarthy, editor of Family Travel Forum and Joanne Vero, creator of Travel Media Showcase staged the conference at the Iberostar Playa Mita Resort with the Riviera Nayarit Convention and Visitors Bureau.
"We were thrilled to bring the conference to neighboring Mexico where discussions focused on international family travel, an increasingly popular choice for families in North America and around the world,” said Richard Zarkin of the Riviera Nayarit Convention & Visitors Bureau.
"Family travel is a core segment of Iberostar’s business,” added John Long, Vice President of Sales and Marketing at Iberostar Hotels & Resorts in North America, "and we were pleased to be part of the industry discussions and look forward to building upon the valuable relationships created at this year’s summit.”
