Busy Families Seeking More Aussie Holidays

A record number of mothers entering the workforce has led to more families seeking holidays in Australia, according to the country’s leading family travel and lifestyle magazine, Holidays with Kids.

A new survey by Holidays with Kids shows 95 per cent of the magazine’s readers travel within Australia each year, with more than two thirds of them taking domestic breaks with their families three or more times a year. A similar survey in 2004 showed that just 60 per cent of readers travelled domestically each year, with less than one third of them taking local breaks three or more times a year.

In addtion, Tourism Australia says the family travel market is the fastest-growing sector of the nation’s tourism industry.

According to the Australian Institute of Family Studies, the proportion of families with dependent children who have both parents in the labor force is now a record 57 per cent. And the Australian Government’s Office for Women says 4.7 million women are now employed, with an unprecedented one million entering the workforce over the last decade. In addition, women’s salaries have risen 25 per cent during the last 10 years, providing more income for quality family holidays.

“As more mothers get paid jobs and family lives become even busier, we’re finding more parents, especially the mums, are organising more short breaks around Australia each year so they can relax and spend quality time with their children and restore the all-important work/life balance,” said Holidays with Kids editor Cathy Wagstaff.

“And mothers who work often don’t want to cook and clean during the holidays so they are opting for more luxurious holidays where they and their families can get the pampering they feel they deserve for all their hard work,” Ms Wagstaff said.

To cater for the rising demand for Australian family holidays, Ms Wagstaff said Holidays with Kids magazine – previously an annual and then bi-annual magazine – had now become a quarterly magazine, with between 50-65 per cent of its 200 plus pages devoted to domestic holiday options.

Olympic swimmer Kieren Perkins and wife Symantha, with their two children, have also been chosen as celebrity ambassadors for Holidays with Kids, with their recent Tasmania holiday to feature in the Christmas/summer edition of the magazine, out on December 10.

“Holidays with Kids has always succeeded in showcasing vacations families can enjoy around Australia,” said Ms Wagstaff. “Changing social trends, coupled with our research, mean we will now offer even more Australian content to inspire and inform families seeking breaks throughout the year in our own backyard.

The summer edition will also count down Australia’s most popular family holidays and focus on the Queensland outback and the NSW North Coast as well as the sights of Melbourne and Sydney in addition to reviews of family-friendly hotels around the country. Readers will also have the chance to win prizes totaling $10,000.

Holidays with Kids was established in 1996 with just 85 pages.  The popular magazine – Australia’s largest and most widely distributed travel magazine* – boasts a circulation of 60,000 copies and more than 600,000 readers, making it the country’s leading authority on family travel. The associated Holidays with Kids website [ww.holidayswithkids.com.au] receives almost four million hits and 740,000 page views per month and has more than 33,000 online members.

* Holidays with Kids is the highest circulating travel magazine in Australia that serves both consumers and travel agents as audited by CAB. Total number of readers includes in-flight readership on Australia’s leading airline.

A Report by The Mole