Senior Foodies:A developing niche market in gastronomic tourism

Publication date: Available online 10 April 2019Source: International Journal of Gastronomy and Food ScienceAuthor(s): A. Balderas-Cejudo, I. Patterson, G.W. LeesonAbstractThe world's population is ageing. Because of these global demographic changes it has resulted in the increased participation of older (or senior) adults in tourism and leisure activities and has prompted governments and tourism providers in many developed regions of the world to identify senior travellers as a priority market. An increasingly healthy senior market segment now has the time and purchasing power to travel more frequently, because many want to seek out and experience new and often exotic destinations in their desire to enjoy a healthy and active lifestyle. This has helped to create an emerging special interest or niche market that has been termed culinary or gastronomic tourism. The relationship between food and tourism has always been an increasingly important segment in the real worlds of hospitality, destination marketing, and tourism development. However, only recently we have seen the acceptance of the growth in interest in gastronomic tourism as an academic field of study. However at the same time, there has been little research that has been carried out on the socio-demographics of this niche market, and in particular, older gastronomic tourists. In other words, researchers have previously assumed that they all tourists experience gastronomic tourism in similar ways. As a result, little ...
Source: International Journal of Gastronomy and Food Science - Category: Food Science Source Type: research