Mining for silver: the role of micro-firm adaptive strategizing capabilities in harnessing senior tourism

ABSTRACT

This research explores senior tourism adaptive strategizing capabilities through the lens of micro-firm owner managers. The findings derived from 24 qualitative tourism practitioner interviews demonstrated that senior tourism engagement does not necessitate a profound strategic change of direction or extensive resource reconfiguration. However, the strategic commercialization of this cohort remains under-utilized and findings perpetuated stereotypical assumptions regarding a lack of diversity within the senior market. Owner managers that actively embrace adaptive decision-making capabilities proactively target this market, whereas those with little strategic intent view senior tourism as a generic cohort of questionable commercial value. A thematic map positions the owner manager as a pivotal decision-maker within this strategic milieu and charts the trajectory of market alignment and resource transformation as a means of accessing the silver economy. Its adaptive ethos offers avenues for growth by creating bespoke authentic experiences, geared explicitly towards senior tourists as a heterogeneous cohort.

KEYWORDS:

• Micro-firm
• silver economy
• adaptive capabilities
• senior tourism
• qualitative interviews

Acknowledgement

The authors wish to thank the anonymous reviewers of this journal for their valuable contributions to the paper.

Disclosure statement

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

Notes

1 Prevailing definitions of the silver economy relate to those over the age of 50, while senior tourism statistics primarily include those over the age of 55 years. Fifty-five years is the assumed senior tourism baseline in this study.

Additional information

Funding

This work was supported by President’s scholar award and the RIKON research group, School of Business, Waterford Institute of Technology.