Exploring Emotional Solidarity Through Gap-Generational Travel: Social Interactions Between Chinese Grandparents and Their Grandchildren

This study explores the social interactions between Chinese grandparents and their grandchildren during travel through the theoretical lens of emotional solidarity. Gap-generational travel is a growing trend in the tourism and leisure industry and has gained increasing attention from both academic and practical perspectives. However, existing literature provides limited insight into the dynamics between grandparents and grandchildren in the context of family travel and leisure. Chinese grandparents remain marginalized in tourism scholarship, as studies related to family tourism mostly focus on parent–child dyads and emphasize family travel decision making, the benefits of travel, and family travel experiences. This study contributes to family tourism scholarship by applying the theory of emotional solidarity to interpret gap-generational travel from a non-Western perspective, highlighting the need for more inclusive theoretical frameworks, particularly regarding disadvantaged family members in tourism. Semi-structured interviews were conducted with 80 Chinese grandparents, and the data were analyzed thematically. Four main themes emerged: communal joy; the creation of new memories and experiences; compensation for (un)available resources; and the celebration of shared lives between grandparents and grandchildren. The results also showed that Chinese gap-generational travel is shaped by a patrilineal family system embedded in Confucian ethics, in which family lineage follows the male line. The findings call for inclusive policies and socio-culturally oriented practices that enhance the well-being of both grandparents and grandchildren. Furthermore, the study highlights the need for approaches to elderly travel that transcends market segmentation by recognizing older adults as embedded within family relationships where emotional solidarity is both produced and sustained.