The number of people taking a holiday with extended family has more than doubled in the last year according to new research from ABTA.

The ABTA Consumer Holiday Trends Report 2014 reveals 19 per cent consumers are taking at least one holiday with their extended family in the 12 months to July 2014 compared to just seven per cent the previous year.

As well as an increase in the number of people holidaying with extended family, the numbers travelling as a group are also on the rise.

A quarter of people (25 per cent) travelled in a group of friends, compared to 22 per cent in the previous year.

The numbers travelling with their partner (50 per cent) remained steady while there was a small decrease in people holidaying with their immediate family (39 per cent in 2013).

Perhaps unsurprisingly, holidays with extended family were most popular with people with young children (under five5) with 27 per cent choosing to take one, suggesting that this trend may be due to people looking to share childcare duties.

Younger people are still the most likely to go on family holidays, 49 per cent of those aged 16-24 years old holidayed with their immediate family compared to an average of 35 per cent.

This so called ‘boomerang’ generation are perhaps choosing to take a family holiday due to financial pressures caused by cost of living pressures such as high rents and tuition fees.

Those aged over 65 were most likely to holiday alone with 21 per cent having done so in the past year, reflecting the trend for so called 'grey gap years' and suggesting older age groups are among the most independent when it comes to taking holidays.

Those aged 16-24 were the least likely to go away alone – only six per cent holidayed alone compared to an average of 13 per cent.

Victoria Bacon, of ABTA , said: “The inter-generational family holiday has been very popular in the past year. There are likely to be complex reasons for this. We also know that in the broader economy wages are struggling to keep up with inflation, so there is a possibility that families are holidaying together to share costs. This reason seems particularly compelling among those aged 16-24 who are the most likely to holiday with family. Also, the birth rate in the UK has increased significantly in recent years, suggesting there are more young families, perhaps looking to holiday with extended family to take advantage of this support network.”