8 Tips for Your City to Attract More Senior Tourists

Tourism managers are increasingly realizing the potential of senior visitors. In addition to having more money to spend, they are people who travel off-season, are quite civilized when it comes to handling public property, and are unlikely to commit any illegal acts such as urinating in the street, breaking traffic laws, or speaking in a loud voice in the middle of the night.

From an economic point of view, senior travelers help to keep the activity of more than 50 economic sectors impacted by tourism stable, particularly outside the high season. This greatly helps to maintain employment levels and hotel occupancy rates.

Attracting senior tourists only brings advantages. However, they have many options and it is not enough for the city to want to attract them. It has to know how to offer what they need or like. The 8 tips below are based on the Brazilian and, mainly, European experience.

1. The city needs to be convinced that senior tourism is a lever for growth. Whenever there is talk of promoting senior tourism, there are fears of losing other tourism segments due to an imaginary association of the destination with a “place for old people”. This dichotomy is false. Attracting one market segment only interferes with another if the city is very small and needs to define its vocation. Otherwise, there is space and attractions for everyone.
2. Professional Training and Qualification: older people are slower in making decisions, may not listen or read very well, sometimes do not understand slang or the way the attendant expresses himself, and do not always deal well with automated systems. Training professionals who deal with older tourists is crucial. Improvements in Urban Equipment: tourist spaces need to offer the minimum necessary comfort and resources for a good stay for the older population. This includes increasing the availability of benches for resting, water, and shade.
3. Menus: It is extremely convenient for bars and restaurants to offer low-calorie, low-fat, low-sugar and generally healthy food options. They are also able to accommodate special requests (e.g. “I am allergic to gluten”, “I am lactose intolerant”, “I have diabetes”, etc.)
4. Slow Travel: slow, low-demand tours are highly appreciated. It is better to take your time to complete a shorter itinerary than to force people to overexert themselves physically. History and Culture: older tourists love to learn about the local culture, visit historical sites, admire architecture, remember important figures who were born or lived there, hear colorful stories, visit museums and interact with locals. Younger people are more into adventures. Value your heritage
5. The journey begins at home: for a senior tourist, the journey and its pleasures (or problems) begin the minute he or she steps onto the sidewalk in front of his or her home. The entire experience can be marred by a bad start or end to the trip, even if the problems occur in the city of origin. Some tour operators are starting to offer transfer services from the tourist’s home, and not just from their point of arrival in the city. Hotel services: ease of mobility, good quality of service and adaptability of rooms are three essential factors. It is not necessary to renovate the entire hotel at once to improve the bathroom facilities and furnishings. This can be done gradually, during normal maintenance and modernization periods.