by Mia Taylor
Last updated: 4:33 PM ET, Fri September 28, 2018
It takes American families an average of 10 months to save up for their dream vacation.
According to a new study conducted by OnePoll and commissioned by Visit Anaheim in honor of World Tourism Day 2018, parents squirrel away an average of $416 each month in order to take their family on a dream vacation.
To do that, they reduce spending on socializing or ordering take-out, skip date nights and shop at discount stores, Fox News reported.
The same research showed that about 89 percent of parents believe it's important for their kids to travel.
Parents cited a variety of reasons for the importance of travel, among them: the opportunity to experience a new area or culture (74 percent), strengthening family relationships (73 percent) and giving children both the opportunity to have fun and to learn new things (67 percent).
In addition, the study of 2,000 parents with school-aged children revealed that parents spend an average of six months carefully planning vacations and determining how best to make it a reality, Fox News said.
As for what a dream vacation costs people, that varies. But on average, families set aside about $5,000 for their trip-of-a-lifetime.
To save that sum, about six in 10 parents work longer hours and about 55 percent shop at discount stores. Others go even further, canceling streaming services or other accounts. Some even skip saving for retirement to fund a family trip.
The top destination for dream vacations by far is near beaches (72 percent). Amusement park related getaways came in at 59 percent.
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