Age and Activity Participation on the Great Barrier Reef

Abstract

In tourism it has become increasingly popular to note that many of the world's tourism generating populations are aging and to suggest that this represents a major lucrative new market for tourism businesses. This suggestion is based on the assumption that these growing numbers of older people will be both more likely to travel and more active than their younger counterparts. This assumption that older traveller61s will be more active and therefore spend or purchase more has yet to be tested. Evidence from leisure and recreation research suggests in fact that aging is associated with a decline in recreational activity participation. Further, recreation and leisure researchers are much more critical of methods used to study the relationship between aging and activity participation and are especially concerned about determining the effects of aging versus other social factors. This paper reports on a study of the travel behaviours and activity participation rates of nearly 3000 tourists to the Great Barrier Reef regions of Australia. The study found that while age was associated with lower rates of participation in tourism activities in general and in outdoor physical activities in particular, age was not a major contributor to variance in participation rates. The results suggest caution in arguing that senior travellers will be a lucrative market for tourism.