HAT304 Emerging Issues In Hospitality And Tourism

Introduction

The silent generation are the people born between 1925 to 1943. The generation consists of those born during or after the world war or those born during or near the great depression. The generation may be described as indifferent and lacking adventure. The generation was basically "silent." Most women were pioneers in activism and civil rights movements. Much of the preferences of the generation were environmental concerns, and they had a preference for learning while traveling. The "New Age" Elderly refers to the group which has positive traits and prefer traveling almost the same as the people in younger age groups. The new age prefers engaging activities such as volunteering, trips to foreign places and domestic places too. The new age like to use guide books videos and agents to get information on where they should travel (Johnson, Butrica & Mommaerts, 2010, p.25).

Seniors are the people 55 years and older. The seniors were once the prime targets for marketers based in the tourism industry in the 1990s. They love to see themselves younger than their actual ages and can travel for pleasure. The group also does participate in physically engaging activities helping them get the feel of a young age. The baby boomers are the group between 54 to 72 years old currently. Th e group comprises of about 5.5 million of Australia's population. The group has higher levels of disposable income and has an interest in pursuing education after their retirement making the group most traveled in the country

Potential Travelers Touch Points

The aging tourists love to take their holidays in the form of drive tourism. Drive tourism can be described to be traveling by any type of mechanically driven and passenger carrying road transport, this includes both day and overnight trips in a rental car or a family car or even motorbikes. Drive tourism however, excludes travelling together with bicycles or coaches (Mahadevan,2014). We for instance have The Grey Nomads, a group of elderly people in Australia who travel around the country in mobile homes such as motorhomes or camper trailers during different times of the year (Hillman,2013, p.585). Recreational Vehicle Travel can be described as traveling in vehicles meant for temporary accommodation of the occupants. Caravanning is a form of drive tourism. Caravanning is a popular activity that dates to the 1880s. Caravanning in Australia dates back to the 1920s. Recent developments on caravans have made them more than accommodation vehicles only. Recent caravans have modern toilets, flat screen televisions connected to reputable media stations with satellite dishes, well-designed living rooms and kitchens. The modern caravans also do have well-

furnished toilet features. Cruise travel also is another form of tourism taken up by the aged. The people travel on cruise ships mainly for leisure. A cruise ship is a large ship that carries people mainly for pleasure on voyages. The cruise ships dock at different locations allowing the people aboard to visit different places. Modern cruise ships have been developed to have the best accommodation probably and services also. The modern cruise ship has elegant gaming facilities such as gyms, swimming pools, and golf courses (Lee & Ramdeen 2013, p.236). The cruise ships also have good theatres and art galleries. The good conditions of the cruise ships make some of the elderly to consider the ships to ultimately be their retirement places.

Accessible tourism is also another form of tourism taken up to help the elderly.

Accessible tourism refers to efforts taken to ensure that all the tourist facilities are accessible to all persons regardless of their limitations and age. Given that aging does cause some health issues, all impairments are considered, and efforts made to ensure the different disabled people get access to the tourist facilities and get attended to just like the able individuals (Vila, Darcy & González, 2015, p.264).

Virtual Reality Travel is another form of tourism that the aging population undertakes. Virtual reality is an artificial environment based on software that is presented to the user in a way that makes him/her suspend belief and accept it as a real environment.

Virtual Reality is experienced in two senses: sight and sound. Virtual reality has therapeutic benefits to the audience, and it offers an opportunity for the old and less mobile to experience tourism in engaging sensory experiences (Guttentag, 2010, p.640).

Issues Affecting the Touch Points and Solutions.

Each of the touch points has issues affecting them. Drive tourism, for instance, is expensive regarding cost. The cost is high regarding fuel costs together with the upkeep required every day. Drive tourism will also be inappropriate for a traveler faced with different health conditions that may risk his or her life. Accessible tourism also is costly to the institutions charged with the role of ensuring the tourist sites are accessible to all people. The cost comes up based on manpower hired, and the infrastructure put up. Virtual Reality travel is also costly in setting up and maintaining it. The virtual reality technology requires sourcing of expatriates and substantial infrastructural amounts which will make it costly. In solving the issues affecting the touch points, the governments may have to offer incentives to ensure that the high costs are reduced.

Reference List.

Guttentag, D.A. (2010) Virtual reality: Applications and implications for tourism. Tourism Management, 31(5), pp.637-651.

Hillman, W. (2013) Grey nomads travelling in Queensland, Australia: social and health needs. Ageing & Society, 33(4), pp.579-597.

Johnson, R.W., Butrica, B.A. and Mommaerts, C. (2010) Work and retirement patterns for the GI generation, silent generation, and early boomers: Thirty years of change.

Kulik, C.T., Ryan, S., Harper, S. and George, G. (2014) Aging populations and management

Lee, S. and Ramdeen, C. (2013) Cruise ship itineraries and occupancy rates. Tourism Management, 34, pp.236-237.

Mahadevan, R. (2014) Understanding senior self-drive tourism in Australia using a contingency behavior model. Journal of Travel Research, 53(2), pp.252-259.

Nikitina, O. and Vorontsova, G (2015) Aging Population and Tourism: Socially Determined Model of Consumer Behavior in the “Senior Tourism” Segment. Procedia-Social and Behavioral Sciences, 214, pp.845-851.

Vila, T.D., Darcy, S. and González, E.A. (2015) Competing for the disability tourism market–a comparative exploration of the factors of accessible tourism competitiveness in Spain and Australia. Tourism Management, 47, pp.261-272.