The Family Life Cycle (FLC) model is frequently used for understanding travel patterns and consumer behaviour. The aim of this research was to consider the relationship between FLC stages and travel engagement in Australia. Visiting Friends and Relatives (VFRs) and non‐VFRs (n = 102 029) were found to be significantly different in their FLC composition. In addition, the prevalence of FLC stages changed between the groups, with families comprising 27.5% of domestic VFRs yet comprising 37.9% of domestic non‐VFRs. This study has provided a valuable assessment of the relationship between FLC stages and domestic travel in Australia and is the first paper to integrate two common approaches used in tourism for market segmentation. Copyright © 2016 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.