PANKs are professional aunts, no kids. — AFP pic

NEW YORK, March 9 — A hotel in Scotland has latched on to the ‘PANKs’ trend with a special package for an emerging and potentially important demographic in the travel industry—Professional Aunts, No Kids.

It’s a demographic that was predicted to become a trend in a major report from the World Travel Market in London late last year, where experts singled out childless women as a strong source market for the travel industry.

PANKs are childless, professional women with disposable incomes who either choose to have children late in life or not at all, and have strong relationships with their nieces and nephews. The term could also be applied more broadly to cousins, BFFs, godmothers and neighbors.

In the US, nearly half or 43 per cent of women between the ages of 15 to 44 are childless.

The Sheraton Grand Hotel & Spa, in Edinburgh has recognized this emerging clientele with its ‘Mammoth’ package, targeted specifically towards ‘professional aunts,’ which offers tickets to the “Mammoths of the Ice Age” exhibition at the National Museum of Scotland.

Included in the package are kids’ treats like a Mammoth chocolate lollipop, milkshake and tickets to the exhibition.

Likewise, the Wild Dunes Resort in Charleston, South Carolina has also developed a PANKs beach vacation that includes three nights in a resort condo that can accommodate one adult and two kids, a kayak excursion, and a horse-drawn carriage tour of the city. — AFP-Relaxnews