| In
tourism it has become increasingly popular to note that
many of the world’s tourism generating populations
are aging and to suggest that this represents a major lucrative
new market for tourism businesses. This suggestion is based
on the assumption that these growing numbers of older people
will be both more likely to travel and more active than
their younger counterparts. This assumption that older traveller61s
will be more active and therefore spend or purchase more
has yet to be tested. Evidence from leisure and recreation
research suggests in fact that aging is associated with
a decline in recreational activity participation. Further,
recreation and leisure researchers are much more critical
of methods used to study the relationship between aging
and activity participation and are especially concerned
about determining the effects of aging versus other social
factors. This paper reports on a study of the travel behaviours
and activity participation rates of nearly 3000 tourists
to the Great Barrier Reef regions of Australia. The study
found that while age was associated with lower rates of
participation in tourism activities in general and in outdoor
physical activities in particular, age was not a major contributor
to variance in participation rates. The results suggest
caution in arguing that senior travellers will be a lucrative
market for tourism. |
