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If you think family travel means road trips, beach resorts, and photo-ops with people dressed in oversized mouse costumes, think again. More and more families are turning away from traditional leisure vacations, opting instead for adventure tours that challenge their bodies and minds and strengthen relationships in a way that would be hard to come by on other types of vacations.
According to the Adventure Travel Trade Association (ATTA), adventure travel is the fastest-growing segment of the travel industry, and the number of families booking adventure trips is increasing. Chris Doyle, director of the ATTA, estimates that families (including multigenerational groups with grandparents and extended relatives) now make up about 25 to 30 percent of the adventure travel market.
"Family adventure travel is booming," says Dave Wiggins, general manager of the luxury tour company Austin-Lehman Adventures. "What accounted for just 40 percent of our overall business three years ago has grown to more than 60 percent this year."
Tim Gordon, founder of Gordon's Guide, the largest adventure travel marketplace on the Web, also notes that in 2004, 26.8 percent of all trip inquiries coming through his site were from families with kids. This year, that number has jumped to 43 percent. "It's definitely a growing trend," says Gordon.
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