Seniors Travel: Challenges and Opportunities

If you have not done so already, it is not too late to register for the forthcoming RDA Academy Innovations Seminar on ‘Seniors Travel: Challenges and Opportunities’. Seniors travel is a market segment which is currently in a state of flux, so much so that it is having to re-define itself. This target group is not just defined by age itself – a deeper sociological analysis is required. Travel information and booking patterns are changing and becoming far more differentiated. The internet is playing a significant and increasing role. Seniors remain the most important target group for coach holidays. Some 20 per cent of German seniors, for example, take coach holidays, 30 per cent of singles over 60 years. Coach holidays and travel offer seniors comfort and social interaction in a group context, they are safe, informative and geared to older peoples special needs and travel requirements. In addition to this, the number of seniors as a percentage of the overall population is steadily rising. In view of all this the market share of coach holidays among seniors should be higher than it actually is at present. This, however, is not the case. Could this be because the coach tourism sector is not realising its full potential? Traditional coach tourism recipes and solutions apparently do not match the tastes of many modern day seniors – these having different travel biographies and holiday needs in comparison to traditional coach holidaymakers.

Content:    Analysis of seniors’ markets, role of charitable seniors’ organisations in organising group travel, input from experts from seniors’ organisations. Assessing seniors’ coach tourism needs: hotel infrastructure, food and care, correct use of advertising materials, consequences for purchasing, offers and trip delivery. What are tour guiding requirements – travel routes, breaks, public address systems and guest interest levels? Together participants will produce offers fitted to senior travellers needs – from the idea stage to the holiday contract. The seminar focuses upon insights drawn from this year’s Day of Coach Tourism 2010 in Essen with a particular emphasis upon transmitting these into daily practice.

Speakers:    Among others experts on demographic change and tourism from the German Federal Society of Seniors Organisations (BAGSO): Dr. Barbara Keck, Managing Director BAGSO Service GmbH, and Elvira B. Sawade, a travel planner for seniors’ organisations.

Date:    26th - 27th February 2010
Place:    Wiesbaden, Germany
Price:    RDA members: EUR 200, Non-members: EUR 270 (accommodation is included in the price of this seminar)

Registration: Frau Claudia Schnackerz at akademie @rda .de.