The impact of life events on the tourism behaviour of senior citizens in Freising, Germany

Abstract

Goal and objectives of the dissertationGoalTo gain a better understanding of seniors' tourism behaviour and to uncover the meanings behind travelling in later years.Objectives* to gain a comprehensive understanding of the impact of life events on seniors' tourism behaviour* to understand the development of travel behaviour over the life course* to discover variances in senior travel behaviour caused by identifiable life events* to understand why seniors cease travelling* to contribute to the methodological body of knowledge by applying qualitative biographic research methods to investigate seniors' tourism behaviour* to contribute to academic theory by applying an interdisciplinary approach of tourism social sciences, gerontology and human development* to contribute to academic theory by merging tourism constraint and facilitator models with an ecological perspectiveMethodologyExisting research on seniors' tourism behaviour largely focuses on quantitative measures and does not reflect the diverse nature of seniors. For this reason a real-life event approach was applied to investigate seniors' tourism behaviour in depth.The research paradigm adopted in this thesis followed a critical realist and pragmatist ontology which is informed by a post-positivist research philosophy. The research draws on a multiple case study and was conducted between October 2011 and September 2012 with 23 seniors aged 60 years and older living in Freising, Germany. This thesis combined two sets of semi-structured face-to-face in-depth biographic interviews in order to improve and validate the retrieved data from the first interview phase. The analytical framework includes the identification of travel periods, a within-case and a cross-case thematic analysis.ResultsThe thesis identified a number of live events and life-event-related factors which can affect the tourism behaviour of seniors including: deteriorating health, age-psychological factors, detachment from children, pets as family members, migration and visiting friends and family, the living environment, grandparenthood, illness of the spouse and nursing obligations, the loss of the spouse, meeting a new partner, working commitments and retirement, and inheritance.Findings of the study showed that the impact of life events on the tourism behaviour of seniors is diverse and dependent on conditions and living circumstances. Travel distances and durations and tourism activities for example can increase decrease or stagnate. Similarly, motivations are manifold and seniors travel for a variety of reasons such as seeking experiences, socialization, relaxation or having a last meaningful travel experience.The thesis found that tourism plays a significant role in successful aging strategies and can contribute to life satisfaction and individual well-being in old age. Minor evidence was found that could support theories of disengagement. Only those who found themselves socially isolated showed signs of active disengagement from society. These seniors, who had been socially isolated by unfortunate circumstances, simultaneously experienced other constraints and largely ceased their tourism participation.Theoretical conclusionsThis thesis suggests that seniors' tourism behaviour can be explained by ecological constraints and facilitators and translated Crawford et al.'s (1991) and Jackson's (2005) hierarchical leisure constraints model into the senior tourism context. The generated advanced constraints and facilitators model of senior tourism behaviour based on a number of propositions regarding properties of life events and their relationships to other concurring factors. The structure of the model conforms to Crawford, Jackson, and Godbey's (1991) original leisure constraints concept in many aspects. Tourism behaviour is formed by travel preferences which are constrained and negotiated on intrapersonal, interpersonal and structural levels. …