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The Impact of Ageing on the Tourism Industry: An Approach to the Senior Tourist Profile

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Abstract

The elderly population presents a market of particular relevance to a large number of industries for its high purchasing power, comparatively higher than younger groups. Specifically, the tourism sector is emerging as one of the biggest beneficiaries of the aging process as a result of changes in the lifestyle of the population currently, more leisure-oriented than previous generations. However, the tourist companies are facing difficulties in understanding these consumers, whose behavior is different as mentioned, from that of older people in the past. So, this paper aims to identify the main characteristics of the senior consumers for the tourism industry, through three main objectives. The first one is focused on the tendency to travel; the second one is based on the motivation, pull and push factors; and finally, the travel characteristics of Spanish seniors. Research findings showed that there are differences between travelers and non-travelers, depending on sociodemographic characteristics and previous travel experience, where the main reasons provided for not travelling included economic status and health. The literature about senior tourism is discussed in light of these findings.

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Notes

  1. The trips promoted by the IMSERSO (Elderly Social Services Institute) were included as trip types, due to the importance of these for the elderly population in Spain. These do not appear in any of the questionnaires in the research studies reviewed.

  2. Taking into account that the fieldwork was carried out in 2012, the trips made during the previous year were made in 2011.

  3. It seemed reasonable/appropriate to include age2 in the analysis together with age, since several of the studies reviewed across the theoretical framework (Fleischer and Pizam, 2002; Jang and Ham, 2009) use these two variables to attempt to establish the existence of a nonlinear relationship between senior age and travel frequency—Lohmann and Danielsson (2001), Oppermann (1995), Zimmer et al. (1995) and Schröder and Widmann (2007), among others, also mention this.

  4. Other sources of information used by those interviewed were lodging establishments themselves (21.6 %), IMSERSO (18.9 %), senior citizens’ centres (10.8 %), local government social service departments and areas and local autonomous region institutions (21.6 %) (for those who travelled with IMSERSO), as well as other type of associations that organise trips for the elderly (10.8 %).

  5. Spanish young unemployment is already over 50 %—which means that Spain holds the highest position in terms of young unemployment within the European Union. This means that the descendants of the baby boom generation are forced to change their place of residence for work reasons. If this mobility were internal, it could lead to an increase in the internal tourism demand for family and/or friends visits on the part of the adult population. However, it is more likely that we again have a generation that have to suffer large-scale emigration to look for new job opportunities in far-off places and emerging powers. In this way, those countries that attract the new generations should pay special attention to this type of tourism.

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Acknowledgments

This study was done within the project “Sustainable Rural Development in Insular and Coastal Territories. Special Reference to the Countries in Roads of Development and to the Promotion of Vulnerable Population sectors (DERTIC)” (Ref. DER2011-25359) which is funded by the Ministry of Science and Innovation of Spain.

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  1. Faculty of Business Sciences and Tourism, University of Vigo, Campus Universitario, s/n, 32004, Ourense, Spain

    Elisa Alén, Nieves Losada & Trinidad Domínguez

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  1. Elisa Alén
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  2. Nieves Losada
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Correspondence to Elisa Alén.

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Alén, E., Losada, N. & Domínguez, T. The Impact of Ageing on the Tourism Industry: An Approach to the Senior Tourist Profile. Soc Indic Res 127, 303–322 (2016). https://doi.org/10.1007/s11205-015-0966-x

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