91 FAMILY TOURISM RESEARCH – Contributions by Heike Schänzel
91 FAMILY TOURISM RESEARCH – Contributions by Heike Schänzel
I seem to be known in academic circles for my research on family holidays, but this is mainly a reflection of having come late to academia and having completed my doctoral research with three children in tow. My life trajectory started quite differently back in Germany with an overwhelming passion for travelling and wanting to explore the world. After training as a travel consultant there I embarked on a global journey that eventually led me to New Zealand. Arriving in New Zealand in 1990, I toured the country on a motorbike, fell in love with it and decided to stay. Only then did I embark on my academic journey at three different universities in New Zealand, majoring first in philosophy and then later in tourism studies. My initial interests in tourism research were on environmental interpretation and ecotourism issues but given my family situation in mid-life I perceived a gap with a lack of research into families holidaying with children. Let me tell you a little bit about the importance of families spending time together on holiday and hopefully having some family fun along the way.
Family tourism
Families with dependent children represent a significant proportion of the world’s population. Children and families form the closest and most important emotional bonds in human society, and it is these social relationships that drive demand in tourism. It is estimated that families account for about 30% of the leisure travel market around the world (Schänzel & Yeoman, 2014). Family travel (defined as that undertaken by adults, including grandparents, with children) is predicted to grow at a faster rate than all other forms of leisure travel, mainly because it represents a way to reunite the family and for family members to spend quality time with each other, away from the demands of work and school. Grandtravel (grandparents travelling with their grandchildren) can facilitate significant bonds and contribute to intergenerational wellbeing and generativity (Gram, O’Donohoe, Schänzel, Marchant, & Kastarinen, 2019). Families, then, seem to put a high priority on taking holidays to allow for bonding, increased communication, and positive memory formation amongst family members.
Family holidays allow for a time to be in the present without the other pressures of work and school when parents can become childlike, and children be more themselves. This can encourage connections that are often missed in the frazzle of everyday life and create memories of memorable moments. Much has been written about these opportunities of ‘quality family time’ on holiday that allow for strengthening of family bonds (Schänzel & Smith, 2014). However, the reality of family holidays is that tensions can arise from conflicting preferences, such as children seeking fun activities whilst parents seek relaxation. Thus, ‘own time’ can supplement and even enhance ‘family time’ on holiday, offering respite from the obligat