Hostname: page-component-cd9895bd7-jkksz Total loading time: 0 Render date: 2024-12-23T09:33:06.110Z Has data issue: false hasContentIssue false
  • English
  • Français

Assumptions about later-life travel and their implications: pushing people around?

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  11 August 2016

RUSSELL HITCHINGS ,
SUSAN VENN  and
ROSIE DAY
RUSSELL HITCHINGS*
Affiliation:
Department of Geography, University College London, UK.
SUSAN VENN
Affiliation:
Department of Geography, University College London, UK.
ROSIE DAY
Affiliation:
School of Geography, Earth and Environmental Sciences, University of Birmingham, UK.
*
Address for correspondence: Russell Hitchings, Department of Geography, University College London, Gower Street, London WC1E 6BT, UK E-mail: [email protected]
Get access Rights & Permissions [Opens in a new window]

Abstract

Taking four assumptions in turn, this review article considers some of the lenses through which researchers might look at later-life leisure travel and the implications of adopting each of them. First, we consider the ‘active ageing’ agenda and what this means for how leisure travel may be thought about in academia and beyond. Second, we turn to studies underpinned by worries about the appetite for significant consumption thought to typify the ‘baby-boomer’ generation and question whether these studies could inadvertently be promoting the very future they hope to avoid. Third, we explore how research on the benefits of everyday ‘mobility’ in later life may have morphed into a more general belief about the value of travel in older age. Finally, we reflect on how relevant studies of tourism are often underpinned by an argument about the financial rewards that now await those ready to target the older traveller. Our overall contention is that, though for different reasons, all four could be serving to encourage more later-life travel. Whilst for some this prospect is not at all troubling, the spectre of adverse energy demand consequences leads us to explore a more critical view.

Keywords

tourismmobilityactive ageingbaby boomersenergy demand
Type
Forum Article
Information
Ageing & Society , Volume 38 , Issue 1 , January 2018 , pp. 1 - 18
Copyright
Copyright © Cambridge University Press 2016 

Access options

Get access to the full version of this content by using one of the access options below. (Log in options will check for institutional or personal access. Content may require purchase if you do not have access.)

References

Bass, S., Caro, F. and Chen, Y.-P. 1993. Achieving a Productive Ageing Society. Auburn House, Westport, Connecticut.Google Scholar
Biggs, S., Phillipson, C., Leach, R. and Money, A. 2007. Baby boomers and adult ageing: issues for social and public policy. Quality in Ageing, 8, 3, 32–40.Google Scholar
Blaikie, A. 1999. Ageing and Popular Culture. Cambridge University Press, Cambridge.Google Scholar
Bonvalet, C. and Ogg, J. 2011. Baby Boomers: A Mobile Generation. The Bardwell Press, Oxford.Google Scholar
Boudiny, K. 2013. ‘Active ageing’: from empty rhetoric to effective policy tool. Ageing & Society, 33, 6, 1077–98.Google Scholar
Bowling, A. 1993. The concepts of successful and positive ageing. Family Practice, 10, 4, 449–53.Google Scholar
Bowling, A. 2008. Enhancing later life: how older people perceive active ageing? Ageing and Mental Health, 12, 3, 293–301.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Breheny, M. and Stephens, C. 2009. ‘I sort of pay back in my own little way’: managing independence and social connectedness through reciprocity. Ageing & Society, 29, 8, 1295–313.Google Scholar
Clarke, A. and Warren, L. 2007. Hopes, fears and expectations about the future: what do older people's stories tell us about active ageing? Ageing & Society, 27, 4, 465–88.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Dann, G. 2001. Targeting seniors through the language of tourism. Journal of Hospitality and Leisure Marketing, 8, 3/4, 3–4.Google Scholar
Department of Health 2005. Independence, Well-being and Choice: Our Vision for the Future of Social Care in England. HMSO, London.Google Scholar
Domain, D., Fast, J., Chapman, S. A. and Keating, N. 2006. Retirement and productive activity in later life. Journal of Family Economic Issues, 27, 3, 401–19.Google Scholar
Ekerdt, D. J. 1986. The busy ethic: moral continuity between work and retirement. The Gerontologist, 26, 3, 239–44.Google Scholar
Elkington, J. 2011. Will Generation Zero clean up the Baby Boomers’ environmental mess? The Guardian, 27 July.Google Scholar
Furling, M. 2007. Turning Silver into Gold: How to Profit in the New Boomer Marketplace. FT Press, London.Google Scholar
Gabriel, Z. and Bowling, A. 2004. Quality of life from the perspectives of older people. Ageing & Society, 24, 5, 675–91.Google Scholar
Gibson, H. 2002. Busy travelers: leisure-travel patterns and meanings in later life. World Leisure, 44, 2, 11–20.Google Scholar
Giddens, A. 1991. Modernity and Self Identity. Stanford University Press, Stanford, California.Google Scholar
Gilleard, C. and Higgs, P. 2000. Cultures of Ageing: Self, Citizen and the Body. Pearson Education, London.Google Scholar
Gilleard, C. and Higgs, P. 2005. Contexts of Ageing. Policy Press, Cambridge.Google Scholar
Gilleard, C. and Higgs, P. 2007. The Third Age and the Baby Boomers: two approaches to the social structuring of later life. International Journal of Ageing and Later Life, 2, 2, 13–30.Google Scholar
Gilleard, C. and Higgs, P. 2013. The fourth age and the concept of a ‘social imaginary’: a theoretical excurcus. Journal of Aging Studies, 27, 4, 368–76.Google Scholar
Gilleard, C., Higgs, P., Hyde, M., Wiggins, R. and Blane, D. 2005. Class, cohort, and consumption: the British experience of the third age. Journals of Gerontology: Social Sciences, 60, 6, 305–10.Google Scholar
Goins, R. T., Jones, J., Schure, M., Rosenberg, D. E., Phelan, E. A., Dodson, S. and Jones, D. L. 2015. Older adults’ perceptions of mobility: a metasynthesis of qualitative studies. The Gerontologist, 55, 6, 929–42.Google Scholar
Goodwin, J. and O'Connor, H. 2014. Notions of fantasy and reality in the adjustment to retirement. Ageing & Society, 34, 4, 569–89.Google Scholar
Haq, G., Brown, D. and Hards, S. 2010. Older people and climate change: the case for better engagement. Project report, Stockholm Environment Institute, Stockholm.Google Scholar
Harkin, J. and Huber, J. 2004. Eternal Youths. How the Baby Boomers Are Having Their Time Again. Demos, London.Google Scholar
Hennessy, C. H. and Walker, A. 2010. Promoting multi-disciplinary and interdisciplinary ageing research in the United Kingdom. Ageing & Society, 31, 1, 32–69.Google Scholar
Hibbert, J. F., Dickinson, J. E. and Curtin, S. 2013. Understanding the influence of interpersonal relationships on identity and tourism travel. Anatolia: An International Journal of Tourism and Hospitality Research, 24, 1, 30–9.Google Scholar
Hillman, W. 2013. Grey nomads travelling in Queensland, Australia: social and health needs. Ageing & Society, 33, 4, 579–97.Google Scholar
Hitchings, R., Collins, R. and Day, R. 2015. Inadvertent environmentalism and the action-value opportunity: reflections from studies at both ends of the generational spectrum. Local Environment, 20, 3, 369–85.Google Scholar
Howe, N. and Strauss, W. 2007. The next 20 years. How customer and workforce attitudes will evolve. Harvard Business Review , 85, 7/8, 41–52.Google ScholarPubMed
Hudson, S. 2010. Wooing Zoomers: marketing to the mature traveler. Marketing Intelligence and Planning, 28, 4, 444–61.Google Scholar
Hurd, M. D. and Rohwedder, S. 2006. Some answers to the retirement-consumption puzzle. NBER Working Paper Series, National Bureau of Economic Research, Cambridge, Massachusetts.Google Scholar
Hyde, M. 2015. Travel and tourism in later life. In Twigg, J. and Martin, W. (eds), Routledge Handbook of Cultural Gerontology. Routledge, London, 337–344.Google Scholar
International Longevity Centre UK 2015. Here Today, Gone Tomorrow: How Today's Retirement Choices Could Affect Financial Resilience Over the Long Term. International Longevity Centre UK, London.Google Scholar
International Transport Forum 2015. Capitalising on the grey-haired globetrotters: economic aspects of increasing tourism among older and disabled people. Discussion paper 2015.11, International Transport Forum, Paris.Google Scholar
Jones, I. R., Hyde, M., Victor, C., Wiggins, D., Gilleard, C. and Higgs, P. 2008. Ageing in a Consumer Society: From Passive to Active Consumption in Britain. Policy Press, Bristol, UK.Google Scholar
Karisto, A. 2007. Finnish baby boomers and the emergence of the third age. International Journal of Ageing and Later Life, 2, 2, 91–108.Google Scholar
Katz, S. 2000. Busy bodies, active ageing and the management of everyday life. Journal of Aging Studies, 14, 2, 135–52.Google Scholar
Katz, S. 2003. Critical gerontological theory: intellectual fieldwork and the nomadic life of ideas. In Briggs, S., Hendricks, J. and Lowenstein, A. (eds), The Need for Theory: Critical Approaches to Social Gerontology. Baywood, Amityville, New York, 15–31.Google Scholar
Kazeminia, A., Del Chiappa, G. and Jafari, J. 2014. Seniors’ travel constraints and their coping strategies. Journal of Travel Research, 54, 1, 80–93.Google Scholar
Laslett, P. 1989. A Fresh Map of Life. Weidenfield and Nicolson, London.Google Scholar
Leach, R., Phillipson, C., Biggs, S. and Money, A. 2013. Baby boomers, consumption and social change: the bridging generation? International Review of Sociology, 23, 1, 104–22.Google Scholar
Lundgren, A. 2012. Doing age: methodological reflections on interviewing. Qualitative Research, 13, 6, 668–84.Google Scholar
Mackay, H. 1997. Generations: Baby Boomers, Their Parents and Their Children. Pan Macmillan Publishing, Sydney.Google Scholar
Major, B. and McLeay, F. 2013. Alive and kicking: evaluating the overseas package holiday experience of grey consumers in the United Kingdom. Journal of Vacation Marketing, 19, 1, 5–18.Google Scholar
Mann, K. 2001. Approaching Retirement: Social Divisions, Welfare and Exclusion. Policy Press, Bristol, UK.Google Scholar
McCarthy, , 2013. The life that disappeared while babyboomers had their fun. The Independent, 29 May.Google Scholar
McHugh, K. 2003. Three faces of ageism: society, image and place. Ageing & Society, 23, 2, 165–85.Google Scholar
Metz, D. 2000. Mobility of older people and their quality of life. Transport Policy, 7, 2, 149–52.Google Scholar
Mollenkopf, H., Marcellini, F., Ruoppila, I., Széman, Z. and Tacken, M. 2005. Enhancing Mobility in Later Life: Personal Coping, Environmental Resources and Technical Support. IOS Press, Amsterdam.Google Scholar
Morgan, D. 1998. Facts and figures about the baby boom. Generations, 22, 1, 10–15.Google Scholar
Morgan, L. and Levy, D. 1993. Segmenting the Mature Market. Probus, Chicago.Google Scholar
Moschis, G. P. 1996. Gerontographics: Life Stage Segmentation for Marketing Strategy Development. Quorum Books, Westport, Connecticut.Google Scholar
Muller, T. and O'Cass, A. 2001. Targeting the young at heart: seeing senior vacationers the way they see themselves. Journal of Vacation Marketing, 7, 4, 285–301.Google Scholar
Musselwhite, C. and Haddad, H. 2010. Mobility, accessibility and quality of later life. Quality in Ageing and Older Adults. Quality in Ageing and Older Adults, 11, 1, 25–37.Google Scholar
Nimrod, G. 2008. Retirement and tourism: themes in retirees’ narratives. Annals of Tourism Research, 35, 4, 859–78.Google Scholar
Nordbakke, S. and Schwanen, T. 2014. Well-being and mobility: a theoretical framework and literature review focusing on older people. Mobilities, 9, 1, 104–29.Google Scholar
Patterson, I. 2006. Growing Older: Tourism and Leisure Behaviour of Older Adults. CABI, Wallingford, UK.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Patterson, I. and Pegg, S. 2009. Marketing the leisure experience to baby boomers and older tourists. Journal of Hospitality Marketing and Management, 18, 2/3, 254–72.Google Scholar
Peace, S., Holland, C. and Kellaher, L. 2011. ‘Option recognition’ in later life: variations in ageing in place. Ageing & Society, 31, 5, 734–57.Google Scholar
Pike, E. 2011. The Active Aging Agenda, old folk devils and a new moral panic. Sociology of Sport Journal, 28, 2, 209–25.Google Scholar
Ready for Ageing Alliance 2015. The Myth of the Baby Boomer. Ready for Ageing Alliance, London.Google Scholar
Schwanen, T., Banister, D. and Bowling, A. 2012. Independence and mobility in later life. Geoforum, 43, 6, 1313–22.Google Scholar
Schwanen, T. and Ziegler, F. 2011. Wellbeing, independence and mobility: an introduction. Ageing & Society, 31, 5, 719–33.Google Scholar
Sedgely, D., Pritchard, A. and Morgan, N. 2011. Tourism and ageing: a transformative research agenda. Annals of Tourism Research, 38, 2, 422–36.Google Scholar
Shove, E. and Walker, G. 2014. What is energy for? Social practice and energy demand. Theory, Culture and Society, 31, 5, 41–5.Google Scholar
Siren, A. and Haustein, S. 2013. Babyboomers’ mobility patterns and preferences: what are the implications for future transport? Transport Policy, 29, 236–44.Google Scholar
Staats, S. and Pierfelice, L. 2003. Travel: a long-range goal of retired women. Journal of Psychology, 137, 5, 483–94.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Street, D. and Crossman, J. S. 2006. Greatest generation or greedy geezers? Social spending preferences and the elderly. Social Problems, 53, 1, 75–96.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Thompson, S., Michaelson, J., Abdallah, S., Johnson, V., Morris, D., Riley, K. and Simms, A. 2010. ‘Moments of Change’ as Opportunities for Influencing Behaviour: A Report to DEFRA. The New Economics Foundation, London.Google Scholar
Timmer, E., Bode, C. and Dittman Kohli, F. 2003. Expectations of gains in the second half of life: a study of personal conceptions of enrichment in a lifespan perspective. Ageing & Society, 23, 1, 3–24.Google Scholar
Toepoel, V. 2013. Ageing, leisure, and social connectedness: how could leisure help reduce social isolation of older people? Social Indicators Research, 113, 1, 355–72.Google Scholar
Tulle-Winton, E. 1998. Growing old and resistance: towards a new cultural economy of old age? Ageing & Society, 19, 3, 281–99.Google Scholar
Tulle, E. 2004. Ageing, the Body and Social Change: Running in Later Life. Palgrave Macmillan, Basingstoke, UK.Google Scholar
Venn, S., Burningham, K., Christie, I. and Jackson, T. 2015. Consumption junkies or sustainable consumers: considering the grocery shopping practices of those transitioning to retirement. Ageing & Society. Published online 4th September 2015, doi:10.1017/S0144686X15000975.Google Scholar
Viant, A. 1993. Enticing the elderly to travel: an exercise in euromanagement. Tourism Management, 14, 1, 52–60.Google Scholar
Walker, A. 1990. The economic burden of ageing and the prospect of intergenerational conflict. Ageing & Society, 10, 4, 377–96.Google Scholar
Walker, A. 2002. A strategy for active ageing. International Social Security Review, 55, 1, 121–39.Google Scholar
Walker, A. 2006. Active ageing in employment: its meaning and potential. Asia-Pacific Review, 13, 1, 780–93.Google Scholar
Walker, A. 2009. Commentary, the emergence and application of active ageing in Europe. Journal of Aging and Social Policy, 21, 1, 75–93.Google Scholar
Walker, A. and Maltby, T. 2012. Active ageing: a strategic policy solution to demographic ageing in the European Union. International Journal of Social Welfare, 21, 2, 117–30.Google Scholar
Weiss, R. 2005. The Experience of Retirement. Cornell University Press, Ithaca, New York.Google Scholar
White, N. and White, P. 2004. Travel as transition: identity and place. Annals of Tourism Research, 31, 1, 200–18.Google Scholar
Willetts, D. 2010. The Pinch: How the Baby Boomers Took Their Children's Future and Why They Should Give It Back. Atlantic Books, London.Google Scholar
World Health Organization 2001. Active Ageing: A Policy Framework. World Health Organization, Madrid.Google Scholar
Wright, S. and Lund, D. 2000. Gray and green? Stewardship and sustainability in an aging society. Journal of Aging Studies, 14, 3, 229–49.Google Scholar
Ylänne-McEwen, V. 1999. ‘Young at heart’: discourses of age identity in travel agency interaction. Ageing & Society, 19, 4, 417–40.Google Scholar
Ylänne-McEwen, V. 2000. Golden times for the golden agers – selling holidays as lifestyles to the over 50s. Journal of Communication, 50, 3, 83–99.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
You, X. and O'Leary, J. T. 1999. Destination behaviour of older UK travellers. Tourism Recreation Research, 24, 1, 23–34.Google Scholar
Ziegler, F. and Schwanen, T. 2011. ‘I like to be energised by different people’: an exploratory analysis of mobility and wellbeing in later life. Ageing and Society, 31, 5, 758–781.Google Scholar