News & Events

4G Holidays are Hotting Up

• Trend for fourth generation (4G) holidays up 46% 
• Two in five prefer holidays with family over partners or friends
• One in ten have enjoyed up to 15 4G holidays as an adult
• One in eight Brits confess to allowing parents/grandparents to pay for 4G break

British holidaymakers have officially upgraded the 3G holiday with nearly half of holiday makers revealing they are now jetting away on ‘4G’ holidays, involving four generations of family members.

Despite over half of Brits usually holidaying with a partner, a massive 46 per cent have enjoyed a jaunt away with their extended family in the past year, including from great grandparents down to great grandchildren. And almost a third regularly jet away together each year, according to research conducted by my Travel Cash¹.

In contrast to the myth that too much time together leads to family fighting, around two in five revealed that they actually prefer holidaying with the wider family than with their partners or friends, with a third choosing to spend a full two weeks with their families while away.

Nearly half of families holidaying together do so with six or more family members, while a further 21 per cent of families travel with nine members in tow. An additional fifth also revealed to having had up to ten annual holidays with the wider family since they were 18 and one in ten have enjoyed up to 15 four-generation jaunts.

On average, it was revealed that 30 per cent of Brits spend £600 per person on their 4G holidays, while a fifth spend over £800 each. A further one in eight also confessed to allowing their parents to pay for their holiday for them.

Worth an estimated £37 billion to the travel economy², the over-65s market is quickly becoming the driving force behind the British family holiday as 31 per cent also admitted that parents and grandparents have the last say on family travel plans.

Beach holidays (62%) topped the poll as preferred family jaunts, followed by city breaks (30%) and camping (12%). Some adventurous 4G families also enjoyed deep-sea scuba diving, canal boating and yachting.

Family friendly Spain (60%) was identified as the top country destination for family holidays, followed by France (46%), USA (39%) and Italy (29%).

Kuba Zmuda, Director of Product Portfolio Management at my Travel Cash, said: “Our research reveals how the traditional family holiday has evolved in the past year, with older generations now the driving force behind 4G holidays, using the break away to spend quality time with the whole family.

“We also identified that Brits are spending up to £800 per person on 4G holidays and with up to nine people enjoying the family break it can soon add up. Prepaid currency cards are an increasingly popular option with fourth generation holidaymakers. They not only provide a Chip & PIN secure and convenient alternative to carrying cash, but also allow families to pay for large expenses, such as settling restaurant bills or finalising hotel costs without incurring fees as they would with their credit or debit cards.”

my Travel Cash offers three prepaid MasterCard® travel money cards for travellers to take on a 4G holiday – Euro Currency Card, US Dollar Currency Card and Multi-Currency Card – which provide a convenient way to carry, spend and access money abroad.

For more information, visit mytravelcash.com.

ENDS

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Notes to editors
my Travel Cash prepaid currency cards offer competitive exchange rates. The cards benefit from Chip & PIN protection and no link to your bank account.

The Express Delivery option allows cards to be delivered in just 1-3 working days and is free for orders of £800 or over. For orders under £800 a fee of £5 will be added to the order.

Visit mytravelcash.com for information about terms, fees or to order a card by completing the quick order process. The cards can be used at over 35 million merchants and any of the 2 million ATMs worldwide that display the MasterCard Acceptance Mark. All my Travel Cash Cards provide a generous 1% cashback on all purchases made and a dedicated 24/7 Customer Services team is on hand to help.

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