Approaches to seniors’ tourist behaviour

Abstract

Purpose – The paper aims to identify main approaches to seniors’ tourist behaviour. Population ageing has contributed to increasing interest in seniors’ tourist behaviour in the developed countries over the past decades. Over time, several aspects have been examined such as travel constraints, motivations, market segmentation or the dynamic nature of the senior market. Considering the wide-ranging scope of the literature on seniors’ tourist behaviour, as well as the differing views of an older person, the purpose of the paper is to identify main approaches to seniors’ tourist behaviour. Design/methodology/approach – The approaches to seniors’ tourist behaviour were identified through a literature review of empirical studies on the topic. The studies were examined in terms of three key elements: the temporal dimension, travel constraints and the segmentation criteria. The approaches were described in light of life cycle and generational theory, highlighting key variables and empirical results. Findings – Four approaches, that reflect intertwining characteristics of seniors’ tourist behaviour, are found: analysis of constraints, comparative analysis, analysis of heterogeneity and temporal analysis. Overall, how seniors’ tourist behaviour is approached is related to how seniors are viewed. Two broad views are suggested: seniors seen as an ageing group or as a heterogeneous group. Originality/value – The paper provides an overview of the literature on seniors’ tourist behaviour, which deepens understanding of the complexity of the topic, and describes different ways of approaching it. It contributes to the literature by proposing a synthesis of approaches, which can be useful for bridging the gap between different approaches in future research.

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