With the first wave of baby boomers approaching retirement age in the near future, the senior market will continue to be one of the fastest growing areas of tourism, notes Peter E. Tarlow in Tourism Tidbits.
“From a tourism perspective this market is really three markets, what we may call the ‘young seniors,’ the ‘middle seniors,’ and the ‘older seniors,’” he says.
Some data he suggests is valuable for these markets:
- Tourism officials would do well to remember that senior citizens now live longer than did their parents, tend to be more active and travel more. By 2015 they will control a large percentage of the world’s assets and will have a tendency to both spend more and to demand more.
- The parents of today’s upcoming senior citizens tended to spoil them as children. This means that senior citizens are not afraid to demand what they want and complain until they get it.
- Especially in an age of terrorism and in places of high crime, seniors will demand good security. Those cities that have developed TOPs (tourism oriented policing/protection services) units will have an added marketing advantage.
- Seniors often have almost zero tolerance for poor service. Tourism locales that wish to capture the senior market need to review not only their physical structures but also the size of print that they use in information brochures and signage, and the level of customer service and visitor protection offered.
- The migration toward “livable outer fringes” means that tourism facilities can no longer be centered just in the principle cities. Smart tourism bureaus will know how to take advantage of a dispersed tourism market and attract people who now shun the inner cities due to perceived high crime rates, poor customer service, and difficult parking conditions.
- The lack of good airline service will become a major difficulty for the senior tourism industry. Many airlines have switched to smaller and less comfortable aircraft. The trend has helped to make travel especially hard on senior travelers.
Report by David Wilkening
