Senior travellers: Tourism activities and shopping behaviours

Senior travellers aged 50 and over served as the focus for an integrated exploration of tourism activities and shopping behaviours. The twofold purpose of the research was to develop profiles of senior travellers based on travel activities and to augment the profiles by comparing and contrasting tourists on shopping variables. Previous scholarship on tourist segmentation, tourism shopping and senior travellers informed the research. A sample of 146 travellers responded to a mail survey addressing their preferences for travel activities and a variety of shopping behaviours during travel. Travel activities factored into outdoors, cultural and sports and entertainment tourism. Factors encompassed both spectator/recreational and social engagement approaches to tourism. Three profiles of senior tourists included ‘active outdoor/cultural tourists’, ‘cultural tourists’ and ‘moderate tourists’. Profiles differed on the importance attached to shopping during travel, likelihood for shopping at retail venues, preferred shopping mall characteristics and sources of travel information about shopping. Scholarly and applied implications are offered.