Family travel as an educational experience: Revealing multi-level Parents' perceived value through a family systems approach

Family travel has experienced significant growth in recent years, with an increasing emphasis on its educational benefits for children. However, limited research comprehensively reveals these benefits from the perspective of perceived value, considering children's diverse roles in various social contexts. Employing a family systems approach, this study interviewed 35 parents to investigate their perceived educational value of family travel for their children across three levels: the individual level (children's roles as individuals), the family level (children's roles within the family), and the societal level (children's roles within social contexts outside the family). Employing a hybrid thematic analysis, this study uncovers six overarching themes across these three levels. It is concluded that family travel holds significant personal and interpersonal educational value for children, which is both transferable and developmental in nature. This study contributes to a multi-level understanding of the educational value of family travel for children, offering insights for developing educational family travel products. • Developing a multi-level framework to capture parents' perceived educational value of family travel for children. • Introducing the Family Systems Approach to consider children within various systems rather than individually. • Revealing the transferable and developmental educational value of family travel for children. • Enhancing tourism research by exploring tourists' perceived value of travel experiences for fellow travellers. • Providing insights for developing family travel products that support children's education and growth.