What matters now for tourism and leisure postgraduates

Abstract

Tourism has a history of recovering quickly from challenges, and early signs indicate that recovery from the COVID-19, may be no different. People are now hungrier than ever for opportunities to travel, having been starved of the opportunity for two years. There are diverse motivations for travel ranging from relaxation, medical travel, architecture, to experience culture, business and adventure to name a few. With regard to my PhD research into the motivations of older outdoor adventurers of particular interest is adventure activity tourism and leisure time physical activity (LTPA).

There is an ageing demographic and an ever increasing need for businesses to consider this exponentially growing demographic in their strategies and marketing plans (Coughlin, 2017). This is particularly relevant in tourism with some authors recognising that older travelers are seeking increasingly active, immersive and authentic experiences (Patterson et al., 2017). When one considers this in the context of LTPA and the potential impact on general health and wellbeing, it is clear that there is a socioeconomic relevance to actively promoting outdoor adventure tourism for older adventurers. Much of the literature around active ageing talks about the importance of psychological health, well-being, life satisfaction, and social networks. Outdoor adventure activity has the potential to address these domains (Boyes, 2016). However, the industry needs to embrace and engage the ageing cohort in all its diversity (Hickman and Stokes, 2017).