Marshall: Ignore ageing and disabled at your peril
Elderly and less mobile consumers need to be targeted by the travel industry with specialist holidays and services.
Growing numbers of these
demographics will be looking for accessible holidays and travel companies risk ignoring them at their peril, according to Silver Travel Advisor managing director Debbie Marshall. These travellers will require accessible and even care-assisted holidays and face challenges over suitability for rental cars and travel insurance. While they like gentle holidays and cruises, the industry must target them better, Marshall told delegates at the convention. Marshall said: “Fifty per cent of people will reach 100 and will work until their mid-80s. They will travel far and wide and the industry must prepare for them.” Marshall also highlighted
emerging segments of over-50s travellers including multi- generational groups of families and increasing numbers of post- menopause female travellers.
Paralympic champ praises industry
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Paralympic equestrian champion Lee Pearson praised the industry for the progress it has made to become more accessible to people with disabilities. He said there still needed to be accepted standards for disabled-access hotel rooms, but travel is now catering for people with disabilities. He told delegates this was a potentially massive market as the population ages.
Debbie Marshall
Abta consumer poll suggests growth in holidays since 2015
The proportion of Brits taking a holiday away from home rose to 86% in the 12 months to August, nine percentage points up on last year, according to research for Abta. The association’s Holiday Habits Report 2016, released in Abu Dhabi, suggested the num- ber of holidays taken this year was the highest since 2011, when Abta started its annual survey. More than half (56%) of
respondents – in the online survey of 1,962 consumers – took a holiday abroad in the past 12 months, up two percentage points on 2015 and four points up on 2013. The average number of
“Fifty per cent of people will reach 100 …the industry must prepare for them”
The rise of the 50-plus
‘adventuress’ in research by the specialist travel organisation showed that 37% of women were now travelling on their own. They
have high disposable income, are looking good and want to make the most of their lives, according to Marshall. They like self-development and learning holidays, single group trips and therapy and holistic breaks. Overall, Marshall said, there is an opportunity for the travel sector to target the 24.4 million over-50s who represent almost 60% of travel and tourism spend.
overseas holidays per person remained broadly stable at 1.4, but Abta reported “a surge” in domestic holidays. The proportion taking a UK
holiday rose to 71%, on a par with 2012 and up from 64% in 2015. City breaks were by far the most-popular choice in the past 12 months, taken by 53% of holidaymakers against 38% choosing a beach holiday – down from 50% last year.
Azores to host Abta event in 2017
Abta has announced next year’s Travel Convention will be held in the Azores on October 9-11 at the Teatro Micaelense in the old town of Ponta Delgada in Sao Miguel. The Portuguese Association
of Travel and Tourism Agencies and the Regional Government of the Azores will host the event. Delegates will stay at the
nearby Azor hotel, which opened earlier this year.
20 October 2016
travelweekly.co.uk 17
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