Enhancing the quality of life of senior tourists: a theoretical perspective

ABSTRACT

The goal of this paper is to develop a theoretical perspective to better understand senior tourist behaviour. The perspective is guided by concepts from research on senior tourism, goal theory of leisure travel satisfaction, and socio-emotional selectivity theory. It examines four central principles: (1) selecting leisure travel goals that have high levels of positive valence, (2) selecting leisure travel goals that are very likely to be attained, (3) engaging in actions that would implement leisure travel goals, and (4) engaging in actions that would allow tourists to experience goal attainment. We describe these theoretical principles and sub-principles in relation to senior tourists to build a research agenda to encourage future research.

KEYWORDS:

• Goal theory
• leisure travel
• quality of life
• senior tourism
• social well-being
• tourist well-being

Disclosure statement

No potential conflict of interest was reported by the author(s).

Additional information

Notes on contributors

Hyelin (Lina) Kim

Hyelin (Lina) Kim, Ph.D., is an assistant professor in William F. Harrah College of Hospitality at the University of Nevada in Las Vegas, USA. Her current research interests centre on Quality-of-Life (QOL) research in hospitality and tourism, tourism destination marketing, and consumer/attendee’s behaviour in meeting and event settings.

M. Joseph Sirgy

M. Joseph Sirgy, Ph.D., is the Virginia Tech Real Estate Professor Emeritus of Marketing at Virginia Polytechnic Institute & State University, USA, and Extraordinary Professor at North West University, South Africa. He has published extensively in marketing, business ethics, and quality of life. He is currently serving as editor-in-chief for the Journal of Macrommarketing.

Muzaffer Uysal

Muzaffer Uysal, Ph.D., is a professor and chair of the Department of Hospitality and Tourism Management – Isenberg School of Management at the University of Massachusetts – Amherst, USA, and Extraordinary Professor at North West University, South Africa. His current research focuses on tourism development and quality of life research in tourism and hospitality setting.

Sung-Eun Kim

Sung-Eun Kim is a Ph.D. candidate in William F. Harrah College of Hospitality at University of Nevada Las Vegas, USA. His current research interests include destination marketing and event planning/management, especially virtual events, as wells as smart tourism. His research has been published in Information & Management.