Tourism Product Development for the Senior Market, Based on Travel-Motive Research

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Abstract
Because the number of seniors (aged 60-plus) in Australia, Canada, New Zealand and the United States roughly constitutes upto a third of the adult population in each of these countries—and this proportion is growing—there has been a considerable economic incentive for tourism marketers to sharpen their focus on older people. Many of these seniors have the desire and means to travel for pleasure, discovery and learning. But contrary to current thinking and practice in tourism marketing, this group is far from homogeneous. In this study, interviews of 356 retirees yielded data on their motives for holiday travel, preferences for holiday destination types, favourite mode of travel, and personal values. The aim was to discover how underlying travel motives and values could usefully identify unique senior tourism markets for the purpose of new product development. The results of factor analyses led to the identification of seven travel-motive segments labelled (in order of relative size) Nostalgics, Friendlies, Learners, Escapists, Thinkers, Status-Seekers, and Physicals. The four largest segments represent 83 per cent of the senior tourism market and the strategic usefulness of identifying travel-motive segments is highlighted for tourism product development.