The senior drive tour market in Australia

Abstract

Seniors are increasingly being recognised as a significant group of tourists by both the private sector and academic researchers. Drive tourism is also recognised as a significant market with the potential to stimulate new tourism development in regional areas. Together, seniors and drive tourism constitute a significant tourism market sector that has to date received little attention. This paper examines aspects of the seniors drive tourism market and finds that the majority of seniors who go on holiday travel by car, preferring the cooler non-school-holiday periods for travel. Word of mouth was found to be a significant information source for seniors. The paper also examines the likely impact of baby boomers on the senior drive market in the future, and finds that this group will have different demands from current seniors.