Senior tourism: travel motivators and perceived constraints and risks for the elderly

Abstract

Purpose To cater to the senior tourist market, it is essential to comprehend the factors motivating and deterring them from international travel post-COVID-19. This study aims to focus on senior citizens’ destination choice intentions and aims to develop a model that prioritizes positive and negative factors leading to international travel destination choices. It uses push–pull factors, perceived travel risks (PTRs) and perceived travel constraints (PTCs). Design/methodology/approach Decision-making trial and evaluation laboratory (DEMATEL) and fuzzy technique for order of preference by similarity to ideal solution (Fuzzy TOPSIS) are two multi-criteria decision-making (MCDM) techniques used to identify connections between variables and determine their relative importance in the decision-making model. Findings DEMATEL found push and pull factors are “effects” while PTCs and PTRs are “causes” affecting senior citizens’ destination choices. Push factors and PTCs have a greater impact than pull factors and PTRs. Fuzzy TOPSIS highlighted “improving health and wellness” and “self-fulfillment and spirituality” as key push factors, “health safety and security quotient” as the most important pull factor, and “interpersonal constraints” as the most critical PTC. Finally, “health risks” is the top PTR. Originality/value This paper adds to the tourism literature by looking at the relationship between senior tourists’ motivation, PTRs and PTCs and showing how the subfactors affect their choice of destination rank. The data analysis techniques used in this study are also novel, having never been used before in senior tourism research. Finally, even though there is a lot of research on senior tourism, not much is known about how Indian senior tourists act. In light of this study’s findings, practical recommendations were offered to tourism stakeholders worldwide, interested in tapping into the market of Indian outbound senior tourists or repositioning product or destination offerings to take this promising market or similar markets into account.

Sürdürülebilir Kalkınma Hedefleri Bağlamında Turizm Uygulamalarının Değerlendirilmesi

“…According to the United Nations, the senior travel market has become a key segment in the tourism sector, considering there will be two billion people aged 60 by 2050 (Stončikaitė, 2021). However, not much is known about how the senior millionaires will decide to travel after the COVID-19 pandemic, considering their health issues and the availability of health The literature discusses senior tourism in terms of motivation for travel (Aggarwal et al, 2023;Bulut & Nazli, 2020), frequency of travel and travel distances (Ferrer-Rosell et al, 2014), duration of the stay (Alen et al, 2014), where to stay, and vehicle choices (Diekmann et al, 2020), millionaire's technology preferences and intermediaries (Bulut & Nazli, 2020), acquaintances as travel companions (Diekmann et al, 2020), months to travel (Möller et al, 2007), health concerns (Bulut & Nazli, 2020), senior travel concerning the COVID-19 pandemic , and post-COVID-19 senior travel intentions (Otoo et al, 2021). However, the literature lacks knowledge about what the senior millionaires' post-COVID-19 travel intentions are, specifically for Turkish millionaires, and what they are going to look for while traveling to a tourist destination after the COVID-19 period.…”

Turizm Sektöründe Yaygın Kullanılan Eko-Etiketler ve İşleyiş Prensipleri

“…According to the United Nations, the senior travel market has become a key segment in the tourism sector, considering there will be two billion people aged 60 by 2050 (Stončikaitė, 2021). However, not much is known about how the senior millionaires will decide to travel after the COVID-19 pandemic, considering their health issues and the availability of health The literature discusses senior tourism in terms of motivation for travel (Aggarwal et al, 2023;Bulut & Nazli, 2020), frequency of travel and travel distances (Ferrer-Rosell et al, 2014), duration of the stay (Alen et al, 2014), where to stay, and vehicle choices (Diekmann et al, 2020), millionaire's technology preferences and intermediaries (Bulut & Nazli, 2020), acquaintances as travel companions (Diekmann et al, 2020), months to travel (Möller et al, 2007), health concerns (Bulut & Nazli, 2020), senior travel concerning the COVID-19 pandemic , and post-COVID-19 senior travel intentions (Otoo et al, 2021). However, the literature lacks knowledge about what the senior millionaires' post-COVID-19 travel intentions are, specifically for Turkish millionaires, and what they are going to look for while traveling to a tourist destination after the COVID-19 period.…”