SAN FRANCISCO, CA--(Marketwired - October 02, 2015) - It's no secret that giving back is one of the prime motivators of happiness. But giving back, until recently, has been relegated to writing big checks and giving time to neighborhood soup kitchens.
It turns out that travel is now one of the key ways people are giving back and getting back much more than they ever expected. Tours.com's Travel-Intel reviews recent surveys conducted by Phocuswright and Tourism Cares to find out how travel with purpose is playing out in the travel industry and how American travelers are making planning choices based on immersive, purposeful experiences and charitable travel expenditures.
Not surprisingly, the survey learned that Millennials make the most generous travelers. Of the travelers surveyed who are inclined to give while traveling, Millennials were far more generous with their time, money and in-kind donations than any other generation -- 81% volunteered, 78% donated cash and 83% gave in-kind during their most meaningful trip from the last two years.
In another survey featured in Travel-Intel this week, family vacations were under the microscope. In this study, released this week by Expedia and GfK, it was noted that family travel now accounts for a full one-third of all leisure trips booked in the United States. For all the hassle that traveling with children can bring, parents are taking at least one trip a year ensemble, and more than a quarter of those questioned take two trips a year with children.
On the dark side of family travel, Expedia's 2014 Airplane Etiquette Study found "Inattentive Parents" to be a most offensive element on airplane trips. This year's study adds that 3% of American parents who travel with their family admit to having "temporarily lost track" of a child while on vacation.
Travel-Intel is a publication that goes out weekly to more than 103,000 sellers of travel. It is also posted online at Tours.com. The publication reports from travel conferences and expos, as well as popular hotels, exotic resorts, cruise ships and ports, and destinations near and far with stories that feature the latest intel on travel. Current issues and archives can be viewed at www.travel-intel.com.
This week's issue also features a worthwhile tip for leaf-lovers during this change of seasons. Twin Farms in the foothills of Vermont's Green Mountains is an easy hop from Boston and New York and a great getaway -- from everything. The resort -- once a writing lair and working farm owned by author Sinclair Lewis -- features only 20 accommodations and each has its own cozy design. The resort also has an award-winning culinary team at the ready to pamper guests. Twin Farms is a member of the exclusive Kurtz-Ahlers collection of luxury hotels, resorts and destination specialists.