Modern-day seniors in the coach and group tourism sectors

The 28th Day of Coach Tourism was held on 11th January 2010 in the spectacular Colosseum Theater in Essen (www.colosseumtheater.de), two days after Essen and the surrounding Ruhr Region were officially announced as European Capital of Culture 2010. Many of the 200 plus participants enjoyed a pleasant Get-Together on the evening prior to the conference in the Holiday Inn Express Hotel followed by a visit to the musical “Buddy Holly” in the nearby Colosseum Theater, having defied snow and blizzards to attend. The 28th Day of Coach Tourism was formally opened by the Mayor of Essen, Franz-Josef Britz, by Klaus Brähmig, MdB (MP), Chairman of the Federal German Parliamentary Committee on Tourism, and by RDA President, Richard Eberhardt.  

The key-note topic discussed by a panel of renowned industry experts and representatives from seniors’ organisations was: “Modern-day seniors in the coach and group tourism sector”. German coach holidaymakers are primarily older persons, tend to be members of largely middle-income groups and have a high single and widowed component. Over 70 per cent travel to destinations mainly within Europe when travelling abroad. Seniors are not only the most important clientele for coach holidays – around 17 million holidaymakers between 40 to 59 years, and 13 million over 60 years in 2008 (FUR Travel Analysis) – but are a growing market segment which offers excellent potential – especially in the second holiday, city-breaks and short-trips segments.

The seniors’ market is a market in flux and a market which should not be neglected – especially in the light of current demographic trends and developments in Europe, Germany in particular. Day of Coach Tourism initiator and organiser, RDA CEO Dieter Gauf posed the question as to “Why is coach tourism not growing in line with this important target group?” Today’s seniors – let alone tomorrow’s – are very different! They are active, mobile and possess great travel experience. They often speak English, they feel younger and express their desires independently and according to their own individual ways of living and thinking. They expect any physical limitations to be discreetly respected and to receive excellent service without being fussed over. On the other hand there are also typical seniors who, for instance, are not interested in sporting offers. And last but not least there are seniors who are not at all fit when taking a coach holiday at all. The most important thing to remember is, however, that all require marketing, suitable offers tailored to their specific target group aspirations and holiday needs and requirements.

This all presents considerable challenges but also offers a host of exciting opportunities for those willing to invest in appropriate marketing-, product-, programming-, distribution- and sales strategies. The 28th Day of Coach Tourism certainly held true to its promise by providing many useful insights and concrete proposals for future planning, design and delivery of coach tourism offers.  Leading representatives from seniors’ organisations and coach tourism experts discussed these issues, analysing possibilities and exploring parameters for future co-operation.

Speakers and topics discussed included:

Wolfgang K. Haehn
Chairman of the BAGSO (Federal Committee of Senior’s Organisations) support association and owner of Krone Kommunikation GmbH who touched on “Seniors requirements of the next generation of holiday coaches”. Mr. Haehn foresaw in five to ten years time holiday coaches with spacious entrances without steep steps, with transparent overhead hand luggage compartments so that nothing was forgotten and left behind, with heated and cooled ergonomic seating and spacious toilet facilities at the rear of the coach. Acoustics would be optimal for those hard of hearing and with hearing aids. The whole coach would be free of drafts. Coach operators, he maintained, had an excellent competitive advantage vis-à-vis air and rail because of their tailored all-inclusive offers and excellent individual and door-to-door service.

Alfred Fuhr
Manager of the AvD (German Automobile Club) Institute for Transport Sociology talked about “Seniors in holiday coaches – expectations of a paradoxical clientele of coach pilots and tour guides”. Mr. Fuhr was adamant that nobody, let alone seniors, wanted to travel on holiday coaches that had Seniors Tours in big letters printed on the sides. He pleaded that elderly people be taken seriously and listened to: while 65-year olds had, for example, a great desire for harmony and tradition, 25-year olds wanted to be out and about enjoying themselves and the world’s pleasures. Tours for seniors should be sociable and conducted in an easy but well-organised manner, with plenty of optional time and space available for individual exploration and personal relaxation.

Dr. Barbara Keck
Managing Director of the BAGSO Service GmbH highlighted “100 Seniors Organisations with 13 million members: business partners for coach tourism”. Dr. Keck advised coach holiday operators to contact BAGSO board members in their home regions, to explain what they had to offer and how they could help. Some seniors organisations such as e.g. the VdK in Bavaria or the Volkssolidarität in former East Germany organised group holiday travel on a centralised as opposed to a regional basis. All of seniors, irrespective of which organisation they belonged to, required hindrance-free travel, well-trained tour guides and coach hostesses, comfortable and clean coaches and hotels and all-inclusive tour and holiday packages.

Hermann Meyering
2nd Chairperson of the gbk Gütegemeinschaft Buskomfort e.V. (German Coach Quality Association) and Managing Director of Reise-Allianz GmbH spoke about “Exciting, comfortable and communicative – modern coach travel fit for seniors”. He made perfectly clear that modern seniors’ coach travel had to be exciting, comfortable and communicative. Many seniors’ experienced a decline in their excitement levels with ongoing age and new needs arose. His conclusion: coach operators today needed to be event managers along with everything else. Coach holiday offers should not be too expensive since most pensioners had less discretionary income available for travel; distances and routes driven should be compatible and tour content and services should be described in considerable detail.

Hannes Staggl
Member of the RDA Board of Directors and owner of Hotel Hirschen in Imst (near Innsbrück), Austria, talked about “Caviar and coffee parties: targeted offers from hotels and tourism destinations”. He advised his listeners to select their business partners carefully so that coach guests would not be discriminated against e.g. at mealtimes. His twenty years hotel experience had taught him that many seniors travelled alone and therefore mealtimes were for them very important social and communicative occasions while on vacation.

Prof. Dr. Harald Bartl
RDA legal consultant and Professor of Tourism at the University of Applied Sciences Worms, Dr. Harald Bartl, concluded the day’s presentations with his, by now, famous, humorous and erudite thoughts on “Employees, customers and networks: Silver tourism or ‘Black’ tourism?” Coach operators should observe clubs and associations tours business in their regions and get to know key players and decision-makers. He also pointed out the pitfalls and dangers of active seniors who organise their own coach holidays, a veritable “Black tourism sub-culture” which should not be encouraged. Instead, local coach companies should highlight the alternatives, their professional, competent and reliable service and their very competitive offers.

A podium discussion with Q+A moderated by Bernhard Kirschbaum, Publisher of trade magazine Busmagazin followed. This concluded the Day of Coach Tourism 2010. Participants were then treated to a tasty buffet lunch, courtesy of Essen City Marketing, before departing for home.

The RDA Academy offers a chance to follow-up in more detail with its Innovations Seminar – Seniors Travel: Challenges and Opportunities seminar from 26th - 27th February 2010 in Wiesbaden, Germany.