Discovery, Connection, Nostalgia

Abstract

The senior travel market may be segmented and profiled with a combination of psychological characteristicstravel motives; travel risk perceptions; cognitive age-as well as demographic characteristics. Activities-age, a measure of cognitive age related to the age a person identifies with while enjoying travel activities was able to discriminate between the four travel-motive segments identified with a large survey of the senior market: discovery and self-enhancement, enthusiastic connectors, reluctant travelers and nostalgic travelers. While nostalgia is an important travel motive for the largest segment of senior travelers, the cognitively younger, wealthier, healthier and better educated seniors are motivated to travel for discovery and self-enhancement. Each of the four travel segments provide travel marketers with opportunities for product and service development.