The Future of Family Tourism: A Cognitive Mapping Approach - Family Tourism - page 171

12 The Future of Family Tourism:
A Cognitive Mapping Approach
Ian Yeoman and Heike Schänzel
Introduction
Families travelling with children represent one of the largest and most
constant markets for the tourism industry and yet tourism research has
rarely taken notice of children's and families' holiday experiences (Carr,
2011; Obrador, 2012). For example, family holidays in Britain generate
over a third of receipts within the wider travel industry (Mintel, 2004)
and these are predicted to grow, albeit in different forms (Yeoman, 2008).
Predictions for the future of families highlight: increasing longevity, leading
to stronger multigenerational ties; trends to smaller family units, which
may strengthen family networks and social cohesion outside the immediate
family; and increasing blurring between various forms of partnerships
(Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development, 2008). Studies
should seek to show what is likely to continue or to change and what is
novel, by providing a systematic and pattern-based understanding of past
and present. This chapter suggests some likely future trends with regards to
tourism and families.
There is scant tourism literature on the future of families, although
work on demography and family structures (Glover & Prideaux, 2011;
Yeoman, 2008) has predicted an increased emphasis on fewer children and
more multigenerational travel. Instead, most future studies in tourism are
concerned with destination management (Butler, 2009; Dwyer et al ., 2009)
rather than specific markets. This chapter looks at the drivers that represent
family tourism, which are slow-moving social trends, including changes
in direction. To date, quantitative research has predominated in tourism,
resulting in mainly individual interpretations of group behaviour unsuit-
able to account for the thick sociality present in the collective experience of
family groups (Obrador, 2012; Schänzel, 2010). Additionally, most family
tourism research is market- and consumer-driven (Lehto et al ., 2009), with
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