A new study on behalf of an aparthotel operator indicates that an increasing number of British parents are taking children on European city breaks.
Amsterdam, Paris and Dubrovnik were revealed as the most popular cities to take children.
The study, conducted on behalf of Staycity Aparthotels, polled a total of 3,193 British adults, all of whom had at least one child aged 16 or below, to understand how parents' attitudes towards foreign travel with their offspring had evolved in recent years.
Respondents were split evenly according to gender and region, and had been on at least one European trip abroad with their children in the past twelve months.
All parents were asked whether, in the past year, the trip they’d taken with children would best be described as a beach holiday or a city break.
Just over half (52%) stated that they’d taken a traditional beach holiday, with 39% taking a city break and 9% revealing that they’d enjoyed both type of trip with their young families.
All those who had enjoyed a family city break were asked how old their youngest child had been during the holiday, with the average answer emerging as 11 years old.
Those who’d enjoyed beach holidays had children with an average age of 7 years old.
Parents were asked to state how long the city break they’d taken had been, with three nights the average length of the trip.
The most popular months of the year to visit a European city with children were revealed as April (24%), December (18%) and February (13%).
When asked to share the European city that they had visited with their children, the most common responses were as follows:
1. Amsterdam, Holland - 14%
2. Paris, France - 12%
3. Dubrovnik, Croatia - 7%
4. Barcelona, Spain - 5%
5. Copenhagen, Denmark - 3%
All relevant respondents were then given a list of responses and asked to choose why they’d decided to take their children on a European city break. The top 5 answers were as follows:
1. The appeal of local attractions/landmarks/events (e.g. Disneyland Paris etc…) – 36%
2. To introduce children to a new language/culture - 18%
3. To educate children on the history of the city – 14%
4. To visit family/friends in the city - 11%
5. No other holiday appealed to the family – 6%
