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GROWING OLDER TOURISM AND LEISURE BEHAVIOUR OF OLDER ADULTS This page intentionally left blank Growing Older Tourism and Leisure Behaviour of Older Adults Ian Patterson School of Tourism and Leisure Management University of Queensland CABI is a trading name of CAB International CABI Head Office CABI North American Office Nosworthy 875 Massachusetts Avenue Wallingford 7th Floor Oxfordshire OX10 8DE Cambridge, MA 02139 UK USA Tel: +44 (0)1491 832111 Tel: +1 617 395 4056 Fax: +44 (0)1491 833508 Fax: +1 617 354 6875 E-mail: [email protected] E-mail: [email protected] Website: www.cabi.org © I. Patterson 2006. All rights reserved. No part of this publication may be reproduced in any form or by any means, electronically, mechanically, by photocopying, recording or otherwise, without the prior permission of the copyright owner. A catalogue record for this book is available from the British Library, London, UK. A catalogue record for this book is available from the Library of Congress, Washington, DC, USA. ISBN-10: 1-84593 065 7 ISBN-13: 978 1 84593 065 3 Typeset by SPi, Pondicherry, India. Printed and bound in the UK by Cromwell Press, Trowbridge. Contents About the Author vii 1 Tourism and Leisure Needs of Older Adults 1 2 Motivations and Constraints to Tourism and 23 Leisure for Older Adults 3 Socio-demographic Variables Associated with Tourism, 49 Leisure and Ageing 4 Contemporary Trends in International Tourism and 66 Travel for Older Adults 5 Information Sources on Tourism and Travel 88 for Older People 6 Modes of Tourism and Leisure Travel by Older Adults 110 7 Different Travel Markets: Group Package Tours 138 for Older Adults 8 Different Travel Markets: Adventure Tourism and 157 the Baby Boomer Generation 9 Different Travel Markets: Educational Tourism and 177 Older Adults 10 Tourism and Leisure Needs of Older Adults 195 in Retirement Communities 11 Conclusions and Recommendations 214 Index 227 v This page intentionally left blank About the Author Associate Professor Ian Patterson is the head of the sport and leisure area within the School of Tourism and Leisure Management at the University of Queensland. He delivers courses in leisure, recreation and sport manage- ment and is currently the principal supervisor of six PhD students and asso- ciate supervisor of three other PhD students. Between 2001 and 2004, he was research director of the school. He completed his PhD at the University of Oregon in 1991 and has since published over 50 scholarly publications including refereed journal articles, an edited book, book chapters, confer- ence papers and consultancy reports. He is primarily interested in research- ing healthy older people who are undertaking leisure, tourism and travel. He is also co-editor of the Annals of Leisure Research and associate editor of two international journals; Schole: A Journal of Leisure and Recreation Educa- tion and the Journal of Park and Recreation Administration. vii This page intentionally left blank Tourism and Leisure Needs 1 of Older Adults The aims of this chapter are to: ● Provide a general introduction to the growing older population throughout the western world. ● Examine the importance of leisure, travel and tourism as emerging markets for older adults. ● Understand and define the concepts of leisure and tourism and exam- ine their similarities and differences. ● Define the different cohort groups that are included in the general category of older adults, particularly the silent generation, new-age elderly, baby boomers and the senior market. ● Explore in greater depth the emerging baby boomer market related to their tourism and leisure behaviour. Introduction Robert Browning urged: ‘Grow old along with me! The best is yet to be’ (Foret and Keller, 1993, p. 2). Our society is growing older. Life expectancy has increased dramatically in the 20th century in most of the developed countries. In the UK, for example, life expectancy at birth has increased by 22 years for men and 23.5 years for women who were born between 1910 and ©I. Patterson 2006. Growing Older: Tourism and Leisure Behaviour of Older Adults (I. Patterson) 1 2 Chapter 1 1992, according to figures obtained from the Office for National Statistics. Life expectancy has also increased in other countries, such as Japan: 79.5; Iceland: 78.8; Sweden: 78.1; Western Europe: 76.7; and North America: 76.2 (Smith and Jenner, 1997, p. 47). The United Nations has recognized the fact that the older generation is growing at a rapid rate, and estimated that more than 2 billion people will be aged 60 and older by 2050. This will account for 22% (or one out of five) of the world’s population, compared with only 10% in 2000, and this demographic shift will be seen across all continents. Ageing is most serious in Europe, Japan and China (United Nations, 2000). For example, MacNeil (1991) stated that, ‘as amazing as it seems, over one-third of all Americans were born between 1946 and 1964’ (p. 22). Australia’s ageing population is also increasing, from around 12% in 1999 to between 24% and 26% by 2051, or one in four people will be aged 65 and older (Australian Bureau of Statistics, 1999). Because 1999 was declared the International Year of Older Persons, the United Nations sponsored conferences throughout the year to showcase suc- cessful designs for ‘ageing well’. Concepts such as ageing well, successful age- ing and quality of life are complex issues that are often difficult to achieve in a world that is changing so quickly. This is because of the heterogeneity of the older population and the growing recognition by service practitioners that there are multiple pathways to cater for their diverse needs. Solutions need to be provided for older people who require help in overcoming such prob- lems as isolation and loneliness, inadequate health and nutritional services, a perceived lack of respect, and feelings of not being valued by their families and communities (Foret and Keller, 1993). One of these conferences on ageing and tourism was sponsored by the United Nations and held in February 1999 at Morgan in Spain, and was attended by 140 delegates from Europe, Brazil, Japan and other Asian coun- tries. The aim of the conference was to modernize outdated 20th-century policies, products and practices in preparation for the fast-approaching 21st century. Henry Handszuk, World Tourism Organization coordinator for trade liberalization, safety and health, stated: The number of people over 60 in the traditional tourist generating countries of Europe and North America are expected to outnumber ‘pre adults’ by a third in 2025. The challenge for industry is to properly understand the potential and effective demand of the senior tourism market and to respond by delivering products commensurate with its needs. (Ing, 1993, p. 4) Speeches highlighted the dramatic gains made in life expectancy worldwide, and praised increased longevity as one of mankind’s greatest achievements of the century, through improvements in health, hygiene and nutrition. Other researchers also have confirmed these findings, concluding that medical advances, better health care and diet, and improved safety aware- ness have contributed to increased longevity (Veal and Lynch, 2001). Tourism and Leisure Needs 3 Research was also presented about the travel preferences of older trav- ellers. Most preferred discount travel packages that were well planned and variety-filled vacations, signifying that mature aged travellers were not as inter- ested in slow-paced tours through the countryside as first thought. Speakers emphasized that older travellers wanted variety, clear copy in travel brochures with all the costs included, responsible and reliable information, timely receipt of invoices and ticketing, an efficient and accurate reservations system and, by and large, value for their money. Furthermore, it was stressed that the travel industry must not ignore older travellers as they represented a growing seg- ment and a major challenge, now and in the future (Ing, 1993). On a global scale, the world is becoming increasingly aware of the sig- nificant impact older adults will have on the tourism industry in the decades ahead (Goeldner, 1992). The direct consequence of this ageing pattern is that seniors will be responsible for a bigger share of all holiday spending. For example, in 1999 more than 593 million international travellers were aged 60 and older. This accounted for around one-third of all holiday spending by this segment. By 2050 this figure is projected to be greater than 2 bil- lion trips (World Tourism Organization, 2001). This will also have a notable impact on the type of holidays undertaken, and the destinations that are chosen. For example, it is likely that in the future the volume of beach holi- days will fall markedly, while educational or cultural holidays will increase as older people prefer to take holidays where they learn something new and/ or embark on different historical and cultural experiences (World Tourism Organization, 2001). These future population projections imply that becoming older does not necessarily restrict people’s desire to travel. Older travellers as a sep arate market to younger people are increasingly attracting the close attention of researchers and marketeers from the leisure travel industry. Robertson (2001) felt that tourism researchers needed to more clearly dif- ferentiate between the impact of travel experiences on older people and that on younger tourists. Robertson (2001) posed the question: ‘Is travel [for older people] more than materialistic shopping trips, mass tour buses that isolate travellers from locations they desire to see, or self-indulgent trips that take advantage of Third World Countries?’ (p. 100). Despite this cynical viewpoint, there is little doubt that older people are increasingly placing travel as a higher priority in their retirement years, mainly because they are feeling healthier, wealthier, better educated, more independent and have an abundance of leisure time and a lessening of social and family obligations compared with younger people (Martin and Preston, 1994; Zimmer et al., 1995).

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