Embracing Multi-Gen: How Family Travel Is Shaping the U.K. Tours Market

Evan Evans Tours knows a thing or two about adapting to a changing tourism market.

Founded in 1933 by Mr. Evan Evans, the U.K.-based tour operator Evan Evans Tours has over 90 years of experience, making it the longest-established sightseeing company in London. Over the decades, the company evolved—adding dining and theater experiences to its tours, and then overnight stays in Britain.

Today, Evan Evans Tours maintains a reputation for best-in-class tours of London and award-winning service. Offering a variety of experiences—from Harry Potter–themed coach tours and Thames River sightseeing cruises to immersive cultural and entertainment-led outings.

And in the years since the pandemic, the tour operator has seen a shift in who’s buying these packages.

In an exclusive interview with Travel Market Report, Evan Evans Tours’ managing director, Tom Macklin, shared insight on what trends are driving sales in the U.K. sightseeing market.

How Multi-Generational Travel is Reshaping the U.K. Tours Market

Evan Evans Tours has been in the game for a long time. Macklin told TMR that some of its earliest tours from the ’30s and ’40s are still being offered today.

Longevity alone isn’t the reason for Evan Evans’ continued success, however. The managing director, who himself has been in the industry for two decades, believes adaptability has been key to staying relevant in the ever-changing travel industry—especially post-COVID.

“We had a very successful bounce back after the pandemic, but then we’ve kept it going,” Macklin told TMR. “The reason for that is … we adjusted what we did in terms of our offering to what people were looking for.”

Following the pandemic, Evan Evans Tours saw an opportunity to branch out, offering products to attract a market the tour operator hadn’t been marketing to: multi-generational family travel.

“Pre-COVID, our core market [was] couples over the age of 50 travelling from North America. We were less focused on family travel, we were less focused on intergenerational travel,” he explained.

“After COVID, [we saw] a real uptick in grandparents taking the grandkids on holiday, grandparents with their [adult] children… we had to pivot in terms of our product and make sure that we had a wider selection of offerings to really, you know, cater to everybody that was going to be coming on that trip.”

That pivot involved adding more family-friendly and pop-culture-driven experiences, such as Legoland trips and an ABBA experience that features holograms performing in concert.

The move paid off: Macklin pointed to the popular film-based tour, the Warner Bros. Studio Tour London – The Making of Harry Potter, as a standout success.

“Our Warner Bros. Harry Potter Studios trip has gone through the roof. You know, it’s our best-selling London tour,” he said.

Macklin told TMR that he’s seen a rise in U.S. travelers looking for immersive and culinary-based experiences in London as well, especially in the last two years. In response, Evan Evans Tours recently launched a novel tour that combines the iconic British tea meal with sightseeing from a double-decker bus.

Dubbed the Afternoon Tea Bus Tour, the new experience invites guests to enjoy a 90-minute panoramic tour of London while being served afternoon tea. The bus is even branded by the popular tea company, PG Tips.

“We’ve got a chef on board who prepares everything fresh, and then you get your choice of tea and coffee. You get some bubbly included as well,” said Macklin. “You get a traditional, quintessential British afternoon tea, but then you also get a fully guided tour by one of our expert guides of the best of London.”

Top Trends Driving Multi-Gen Travel in the U.K.

Macklin told TMR that the rise in multi-generational bookings is driven by grandparents, who want to use their acquired wealth to give their children and grandchildren unique experiences.

“When we first came out of COVID, it was more people wanting to travel in their closer-knit groups,” he explained. As the cost of living rose, the trend shifted to the grandparents booking and paying for their families to travel with them.

“The older generations that have much more disposable income [are] treating their kids and grandkids to experiences abroad … because they simply don’t have the money to do it by themselves,” said Macklin.

Another major shift he’s seen post-pandemic is the rise in private bookings for multi-gen family travel.

“We always used to operate private tours, but they were seen as a more high-end luxury purchase… we’ve grown our private business by several hundred percentage points since 2019—it’s massively increased.”

With more demand for these private tours, Evan Evans responded by creating an option for bespoke travel that was more affordable for the average family.

“We’ve been able to adjust the product offerings so it’s not super high-end, it’s affordable. People can travel in groups of four, six, eight, 10—whatever the configuration is—and we make those trips much more bespoke based on the requirements of the guests.”

Evan Evans offers two types of private tour: a pre-packaged version based on existing itineraries with customization such as group number and vehicle type, and then a bespoke option where the itinerary is tailor-made, allowing clients to select what kind of experiences they want.

Macklin’s main advice for travel advisors looking to book London experiences for multi-gen clients? Book early.

“Some of our trips can sell out really quickly, especially the Harry Potter stuff,” he said, noting that the older generations like to pre-plan their experiences before travel.

The Windsor Castle, which Macklin said is perennially popular with U.S. tourists, should also be pre-booked, if possible, because it is only open on certain days of the week.

“If you don’t book in advance, sometimes you don’t know if it’s going to be open anyway, [and] you might struggle to get a ticket,” he explained.