Parents take children traveling at younger ages

More Chinese parents are taking their children overseas at an increasingly younger age, a survey has found.

The survey, conducted by online tourism platform Fliggy, showed that most people born in the 1980s had their first trip abroad between 23 and 30 years of age, and most people born in the 1990s made their first visit overseas between age 19 and 22.

But for children born after 2000, the average age of traveling abroad for the first time was 3 to 7.

In some developed areas (the report singled out Beijing and Shanghai, as well as Guangdong province), parents even take children younger than 2 overseas," the survey report said, adding that most parents do it to "stay with children for a longer time" and to enable them to "see more of the world".

As incomes rise, parents — particularly new young parents — are more willing to take trips with their children, both in and outside China, according to a survey by online travel agency Ctrip.

Six out of 10 people surveyed by Fliggy said they would have at least two trips with their children this year, and almost 30 percent said they had planned three or four trips for their family.

Fliggy also found that more than 80 percent of parents who take children on trips book more expensive accommodations. Other expenses during the trips also increase by at least 20 percent.

Ning Cheng, a Beijing resident who had taken his 5-year-old son abroad, said he and his wife used to book cheap hotels — 200 or 300 yuan ($30 to $45) a night for example — before their son was born.

"But we doubled or even tripled the budget after we decided to bring our son with us, as children can easily get sick if the living environment is not good," the 36-year-old father said.