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Australia’s world-first ban preventing under-16s from accessing major social media platforms (FB, Instagram, TikTok, YouTube, Snapchat, etc.) has immediate and long-term implications for the travel industry.
For years, family holiday decisions were strongly influenced by children’s exposure to travel content—wildlife videos, resort walkthroughs, adventure clips, and destination highlights. With this sudden cut-off, the decision-making power shifts back to adults. This creates a major opportunity and responsibility for private tailor-made operators and agents to lead, educate, and inspire families who now depend far more on expert knowledge than algorithm-driven content.
This shift affects the customised travel sector more than any other.
As a leading South Asian Specialist Tour Operator and Wholesaler, curating family holidays to Sri Lanka, India and the Maldives for over two decades, this is our perspective on what must change.
Before the ban, kids shaped demand meaningfully:
Now:
This shifts the competitive advantage directly toward personalised travel planning, where expert authority outweighs viral visibility.
With kids offline, parents will increasingly seek:
Tailor-made operators and agents must lead with authority, evidence, and quality—not trend-chasing.
For South Asian destinations—especially Sri Lanka, India, and the Maldives—publishing expert-driven content on wildlife tours, family safaris, cultural immersion, and kid-friendly itineraries builds trust and positions your brand as the first point of reference.
Without social media influence, families return to the fundamentals:
Agents now gain far more influence, especially in the tailor-made category where reassurance and expert knowledge matter.
Families should be guided by destination specialists, not generic “off-the-shelf” brochure products that don’t reflect the nuances of South Asia.
Your website must now do what social media used to do:
Add or enhance:
When promoting Sri Lanka, for example, embed downward links to:
so parents can click through and make informed decisions instantly.
Even if kids are banned, parents continue relying on:
Strengthen SEO and user experience by linking all family-focused content to the Family Holiday Tours Sri Lanka page.
Email becomes the new “social feed” for decision-makers.
Use email sequences and CRM tools to provide:
Agents can utilise operator-provided templates or personalise them for their own clientele.
Tailor-made operators & agents should develop itineraries that appeal to families through substance and experience, not trends.
Examples:
glamping (e.g., Ahaspokuna), tea-country hikes, village immersion
cooking, pottery, crafts, wildlife conservation days
Read MoreThese product types resonate strongly with the post–social media landscape, where families seek depth, bonding, and educational value.
Agents can become ambassadors for these meaningful, story-driven experiences.
Kids won’t be sharing holiday videos online.
But families still share stories:
Operators and agents must create storytelling-ready materials:
These boost organic trust, referrals, and conversions without needing social media visibility.
Since kids aren’t discovering destinations online anymore, the SEO focus must shift to adult decision-makers and agents.
Primary Keywords:
Secondary Keywords:
Using upward and downward links strengthens your SEO cluster around family travel in Sri Lanka and improves your domain authority in the long term.
With fewer children dictating travel choices, parents increasingly lean on:
This gives a clear advantage to:
Operators who support agents with product knowledge, assets, training, content, and tools will dominate the high-end family travel segment in the new landscape.
Australia’s under-16 social media ban fundamentally changes how families dream, plan, and book holidays.
Those who win will be:
The era of kid-driven, social-media-influenced travel is over.
The era of expert-led, value-driven, tailor-made family travel has begun.
Located just off the southeast coast of India is the beautiful island of Sri Lanka. It’s a tropical paradise of golden sandy beaches, wildlife and delicious spicy food.
