A family reunion

Luxury travel network Virtuoso has named multi-generational travel as its top trend for 2020, while a survey by the China Tourism Academy indicated that 90 per cent of Chinese tourists preferred travelling with their families. It’s happening halfway across the world, too – perhaps for other reasons. In a 2018 Expedia survey, 54 per cent of American Gen Z travellers said they usually travel with family – and 58 per cent of the respondents said their parents had paid all expenses for a trip in the last year.

Another reason: family bonding is harder than it used to be. China’s rapid urbanisation has taken many workers away from their hometowns and families. Multi-generational travel has become a way to reconnect and spend quality time together.

Education manager Li Chaoxun, who is from Zhejiang province but now lives in Chengdu, often travels with his extended family around China. Last summer, the 30-year-old spent his weekends touring Sichuan with his wife Liao Feng, infant son, parents, grandparents and parents-in-law. With Li’s father working in Yunnan province and his grandparents living in Hangzhou, it was a family reunion of sorts.

With so many generations together, you have to consider the needs of every traveller, Liao says. "My grandparents-in-law are over 80 years old, so we had to plan everything in advance: the route, hotel and food. They can only eat lighter food like they’re used to eating in Hangzhou. When we went to Dujiangyan [an ancient irrigation system], we wanted to try the local cuisine but since all the dishes were spicy, we had to ask the chef to tone it down.

"Organising everything is really quite tiring," she continues. "But, when we see how really pleased our grandparents are at everyone being together, we’re happy, too. It’s about more than just sightseeing."

Travelling with different family members means dividing up responsibilities, Liao says. ‘My husband and his father plan all the logistics. My mother-in-law and I only need to take care of the baby, eat and have fun."

Li points out that multi-generational travel often comes at a high price, with a weekend trip to Dujiangyan costing more than RMB2,000 (HK$2,220) per person. But it’s worth it, he says.

"We don’t worry about how much we spend. Whether we’re at a fancy or cheap hotel or restaurant, it doesn’t matter, as long as we are all having a good time."

His wife adds: "At home, his parents remind us to save money, but when we go out, they don’t care: anything goes."

Money aside, Li admits that bickering is bound to occur between family members, though it’s never a big deal. "Looking back months later, it’s not the fights I remember, but the good times," he says.