SENIOR FOODIES:A DEVELOPING NICHE MARKET IN

GASTRONOMIC TOURISM

Paper written for the International Journal of Gastronomy and Food Science 

Balderas-Cejudo, A;

Patterson, I;

Leeson, G.W.

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Abstract

The world’s population is ageing. Global demographic changes and the increasing
participation of seniors in tourism and leisure activities have prompted governments and
tourism providers in many developed regions of the world to identify senior travellers as
a priority market. An increasingly healthier senior market segment now has the time and
purchasing power to travel more frequently, and because many want to experience new
and often exotic destinations in their desire to enjoy a healthy and active lifestyle. This
has helped to create a new market that has been termed culinary or gastronomic tourism.
Although in its early stages of development, the relationship between food and tourism
is becoming increasingly important in the real worlds of hospitality, destination
marketing, and tourism development. As a result, we have seen the number of scholars
studying gastronomic tourism growing significantly in recent years. Nevertheless, there
has been little research that has explored the differences between various socio-
demographic characteristics of gastronomic tourists. In other words, many researchers
have assumed that they all experience this type pf special interest tourism in similar
ways. Nevertheless, the growth and shift in consuming tourism and leisure by an ageing
population in particular is likely to affect businesses in general, and gastronomic
tourism more specifically in a number of important ways. Thus, the purpose of this
study is twofold: (1) to provide and highlight key issues regarding the growth in senior
travellers so as to inform and educate key stakeholders in the tourism industry, and (2)
to explore the growing interest in gastronomic tourism as a special interest area of the
senior tourism market. Findings generated from this study will help to better understand
the importance of the consumption needs and expectations of the senior market
segment. Hopefully this will lead to the development of innovative services, new
products or to modify those existing ones so as to create effective marketing programs
tailored to meet the needs and wants of the senior market segment.

Keywords: population ageing; senior tourism; gastronomy; market segment

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Introduction

The world’s population is ageing with virtually every country in the world now
experiencing considerable growth in the number and higher proportion of older aged
people in the overall population (Meiners and Seeberger, 2010). The United Nations
(2015) noted that population ageing is poised to become one of the most significant
social transformations of the 21st century, with implications for nearly all sectors of
society. They went on to state that population ageing is unprecedented and without
parallel in the history of humanity. Furthermore, the boundaries that define old age will
continue to shift as older people live longer and take better care of their health. Europe
in particular is presently going through a major societal change resulting in a rapidly
ageing population that has been attributed to increased longevity combined with
stagnating or falling birth rates (European Commission, 2015). In particular, the number
of people who are aged in their 60s has been projected to increase from 26% in 2010 to
53% in 2060, making it the fastest growing consumer segment (Euromonitor, 2017).
This fast growth in population ageing has resulted in it becoming a major lead
market for many of the business sectors, such as tourism and this makes the older
generation an important segment not to be overlooked as will result in a number of
important challenges and opportunities. Rapid demographic ageing is not only a major
societal challenge (in terms of public budgets, workforce, competitiveness and quality
of life) but also a major opportunity for new jobs and growth which has been referred to
as the ‘Silver Economy’ (European Comission, 2015). According to the European
Parliamentary Research Service Briefing Paper (2015) the ‘Silver Economy’ can be
defined as, “The economic opportunities arising from the public and consumer
expenditure related to population ageing and the specific needs of the population over
50” (page 1). The Silver Economy encompasses a unique cross-section of economic
activities relating to the production, consumption and trade of goods and services
relevant for older people, both public and private, and including direct and indirect
effects (European Comission, 2015).
However, based on the conclusions from the European Summit on Innovation
for Active and Healthy Ageing Final Report (2015), demographic change has driven the
emergence of a large and growing segment of the population/consumer market (the so-
called “overlooked demographic”) whose needs remain largely unmet. According to the
3
European Union (2015), the Silver Economy is of considerable importance even in a
global macroeconomic context. For example, if it was ranked among sovereign nations,
the Silver Economy would be the third largest economy in the world, behind the USA
and China.

Figure 1. Silver Economy: its share of key consumption groups across Europe in 2025

Furthermore, because of the globalised nature of modern supply chains, the spending
patterns of the Silver Economy have also created increased opportunities and business
for firms outside of the EU. The Silver Economy is being driven by the emergence of
new consumer markets and by the need to improve the sustainability of public
expenditure linked to ageing. By 2020 it has been estimated that the private spending
power of the elderly generation will reach $15 trillion globally (European Union, 2015).
As competition between tourism destinations increases, the local culture is becoming an
increasingly valuable source for new services, products and activities to attract and
entertain travellers who are seeking new and authentic experiences.

Gastronomy has a particularly important role to play in tourism, not only

because food is central to the tourist experience, but also because gastronomy has
become a significant source of identity formation in postmodern societies (Richards,
2003). This has created new opportunities for business and industry in general, and

4
because of this, tourism and the hospitality and gastronomic sector in particular need to
develop new products, services, experiences and business models that can meet the
needs, wants and expectations of the growing and evolving senior tourism market.

Tourism and the Senior Market

Richards (2003) stated that tourism is becoming one of the quintessential experience
industries that Pine and Gilmore (1999) argued will dominate the ‘experience economy’
of the future. Pine and Gilmore noted that the basis of the economy had shifted from
delivering godos and services to staging experiences, and as a result, the quality of the
basic elements of the product will become increasingly more important to consumers
who are demanding engaging, absorbing and exciting experiences as part of their
tourism experience.
The ageing of the world’s population is occurring in most of the developed
countries, along with significant changes associated with the socio-demographics which
have resulted in changes in the travel patterns of older adults (Hrnjić et al. 2016;;
Patterson and Balderas, 2018; Schröder and Widmann, 2007), This is recognized as the
primary reason for the growth in the senior tourist segment (Patterson, 2006, 2018) It
has been estimated that this growth in international trips for people aged 60 years and
older will substantially increase from 593 million trips made in the early 2000s, to more
than two billion international trips by the year 2050 (United Nations. 2010).
The senior market is now becoming formidable both in terms of its present and
projected size and the financial wealth of its members, which has been attributed to their
increase in discretionary income and more free time in their retirement to travel in the
off peak seasons (Moisey and Bichis 1999; Moscardo and Green 1999; Paxson, 2009;
Sie, Patterson, and Pegg, 2016). Previously the senior market segment had been
perceived as relatively unattractive by the tourism industry who focussed most of their
attention on marketing strategies to attract youth and young families (Alen et al., 2017;
González et al. 2009; Moschis, 1992; Szmigin and Carrigan, 2001).
The lack of theory relating to senior tourism has posed a major hurdle to
continued research in this field (Alen et al., 2017). According to Sánchez (2000) there
has been a lack of studies on ageing populations from a micro-economic perspective,

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especially in regard to their consumer behaviour. The travel industry had previously
regarded senior consumers as one large homogeneous segment, which had been
attributed to an inaccurate and stereotyped view of ‘the elderly’ as frail, disabled and
lacking a desire to travel due to numerous health problems (Neugarten, 1968; Moschis,
Lee, and Mathur, 1997: Cleaver, et al. 1999). The industry was slow to recognize the
changing socio-demographics and the great diversity of travel preferences that were
being demanded by the senior travel market (Huang and Tsai, 2003; Oh, Parks and
DeMicco, 2002).

Consumer studies confirmed that senior tourists are now demanding a greater
variety of goods, superior services and unique experiences (Prideaux Wei and Ruys,
2001) than for previous generations of retirees. Furthermore, many senior travellers are
travelling longer distances and staying away from home for extended time periods than
any other age cohort who are travelling (Patterson and Pegg, 2009). This is especially
true for baby boomers (who were born between 1946 and 1964) who were displaying
different attitudes and lifestyles (Moschis et al., 1997; Faranda & Schmidt, 2000;
Patterson et al., 2016). That is, ‘boomers’ are now demanding different types of
holidays than previously, and although travelling to warmer climates for holidays is still
popular, there has been increased spending on vacation experiences that specifically
focus on such niche markets as adventure, educational, cultural and heritage tourism
(Patterson et al., 2017). This is because many older individuals are preferring to take
holidays where they can learn something new and/or embark on different types of
historical and cultural experiences (Patterson and Pegg, 2011).For many in the tourism
industry, this senior tourism market is providing greater opportunities for the sector.
They are attempting to understand in greater depth the needs, wants, and expectations of
this growing demographic of seniors, while at the same time responding to their
changing patterns of consumption (Meiners and Seeberger, 2010). One of these
changes in consumption that has been recently been noted by scholars is the growing
interest in the niche market of gastronomy tourism.

Gastronomy Tourism: An Overview

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Over the past three decades, the close relationship between food and tourism has been
regarded as a viable tourism research area, however with its unprecedented growth and
popularisation in the tourism literature in recent years it have become more prominent.
Long (2003) was the first researcher who coined the term ‘culinary tourism’ to express
the idea of experiencing other cultures through its food. The meaning associated with
culinary tourism centres on the cultural information gained through the physical
experience. Ellis et al. (2018) went further to state that the importance of food tourism
lies in the physical and sensual experience that results from the desire to engage with
local foods (Bertella, 2011; Cohen & Avieli, 2004; Ellis et al., 2018; Everett & Slocum,
2013; Hall et al. 2003).
Wolf (2002) used another term ‘gastronomy tourism’ to describe travel in order to
search for, and enjoy prepared food and drink in order to engage in unique and
memorable gastronomic experiences (in Kivela and Crotts, 2009). Today, gastronomy
tourism is regarded as an emerging phenomena. Traditionally, many local communities
did not regard their own cuisine as being sophisticated enough, and definitely not
something that a tourist would be interested in eating (Kapner, 1996). However, due to
the desire for authentic travel experiences, travel to places where ingredients or
“branded food” originate is becoming more popular than ever before (Yeoman and
Meethan, 2015). The role of the media has been influential in changing perspectives
about tourism and gastronomy through film and television cookery shows, restaurant
reviews, social media and the impact of individual personalities such as chefs,
restaurateurs and travel writers have been crucial (Hay, 2017). Certainly the
pervasiveness of online food imaginary and the popularity of celebrity chef television
programming have also helped (Yeoman et al., 2015).

Other definitions of gastronomic tourism have referred to the study of the

relationship between culture and food; as an historical topic; or as a reflection of a
society’s culture (Santich, 2004). Hall et. al. (2003) defined gastonomy tourism as an
experiential trip to a gastronomic region for recreational or entertainment purposes,
which may include visits to primary and secondary producers of food, gastronomic
festivals, food fairs, events, farmers markets, cooking shows and demonstrations,
tastings of quality food products or any tourism activity related to food. Gastronomy
can add value to the tourist experience and is associated with quality tourism for

7
travelers who are in search of new products and experiences that yield a high level of
satisfaction (Kivela and Crotts, 2006). Furthermore, when food-related activities are not
the main travel motive, they have the potential to communicate broader experiential
benefits of a destination for instance in terms of its cultural impressions and insights
(Andersson, et al., 2017). Arboleya et al., (2014) stated that the food industry should
have a strong focus on delivering innovation to meet market and consumer trends in
health, texture, nutrition and targeted delivery solutions (Berry, 2008).

Food tourism has a number of positive characteristics related to sustainable

tourism, such as it is increasingly being valued in destination development. This
includes the economic impact of food tourism which remains to a large extent within the
local economy; and in terms of cultural benefits, the rediscovery and development of
crops and livestock. Food products and dishes may also have positive effects on the
local resident’s sense of cultural belonging, so that it helps to enhance an understanding
for tourists of the place that is visited (Andersson et al., 2017).

Despite the fact that there is a growing population of travellers who are interested
in not only exploring different cultures around the world, as well as experiencing
traditional cuisine and food, researchers have been in agreement that there has been a
lack of research regarding gastronomic tourism from a traveller’s perspective. Kim,
Kim and Goh (2011) stated that there has been little research conducted on food
tourism, or in examining the food tourist’s behaviour, and this is surprising because
food tourism is now regarded as one of the fastest growing industries and areas of
interest for the tourism industry. Furthermore, Kivela and Crotts (2009) also felt that
limited attention has been given to understanding this market of tourists who
specifically seek out food tourism experiences, and the products, attractions and
experiences that they require. According to Ignatov and Smith, (2006) cuisine can play
a vital role in the creation of a satisfying tourism experience as well as its role in
expressing a destination’s cultural heritage. Ignatov and Smith (2006), and Hall and
Macionis (1998) explicitly identified food and wine as being expressive of a regional
culture; Hegarty and O’Mahony (2001) have also highlighted the cultural significance
of differences in ingredients, the way food is prepared and preserved, and how food is
served and eaten. Richards (2002) observed that the food people prepare and the way
that they consume it helps to express their identity, and that meals and eating traditions
8
are culturally bound. Barthes (1979) considered the meal as a cultural artefact because it
permitted a person to, “…partake each day of the national past as well as present”
(Barthes, 1979, p. 170). Hjalager and Corigliano (2000) also argued that tourism is a
cultural act and that food is part of that culture.
Many destinations are now promoting themselves as centres for food and culture and
using traditional food and beverages as added attractions (Robinson et al., 2012). An
increasing number of tourist destinations are very sought-after because of their unique
culinaria and gastronomy (Hjalager, 2002). The possible benefits for destinations are
evident and may result in increased visitor arrivals and length of stay; a new competitive
advantage or unique selling proposition; more sales across the complete range of travel
including hospitality, transport and retail; increased community pride, positive media
coverage as well as increased taxation revenue (Yeoman et al., 2015). Beyond this,
culinary tourism is seen to be an integral part of the culture of communities and
destinations, which Ignatov and Smith (2006) referred to as its roots that grow deeply
into the soil of history, and conveys something that is indigenous, perhaps even unique
about a specific destination.

Gastronomic Tourism and the Senior Market

Research evidence has suggested that age, gender, and social status (or social class) are
significant factors in accounting for variations in food preferences. In one of the earlier
studies, Khan (1981) contended that older people tended to display different food
preferences compared to younger people owing to their diminished taste and olfactory
sensitivity. Tse and Crotts (2005) also found that a tourist’s age was negatively
correlated with the number and range of their culinary explorations.  As a result, it is not
uncommon for older travellers to eat conservatively, preferring familiar foods rather
than trying out local cuisine so as to avoid any negative effects from diet change or to
control existing health problems. This also suggests that older tourists may consume a
narrower range of foods available at a specific destination. Conversely, Kim, Eves, and
Scarles (2009) determined that older tourists with a higher education level were found
to have a stronger desire to understand and experience foreign cultures through local
food consumption than younger tourists.

However, on a more positive note, Ignatov and Smith (2006) segmented Canadian

9
culinary tourists (a total of 29,213 households were contacted) and confirmed that there
were distinct segments within the broader category of culinary tourists, and that these
differences had potential implications for the marketing sector. While most of the
research in culinary tourism has focussed on wine tourism, the findings from this study
have suggested that there is a much larger market for tourism that related specifically to
food. Specifically, the largest group of food and wine tourists (20.6%) were found to
belong to the 55–65 year old cohort group. In addition, the European Commission in
their ESCAPE project (2015) focused on the development and promotion of
transnational exchanges for seniors (aged 55 years and older) in five European countries
during the low season, namely in Bulgaria, Cyprus, France, Italy and Portugal. A
questionnaire was administered to 894 respondents of which 41.5% were men and
58.5% were women. The results showed that gastronomy was the third most favoured
theme (774 replies), behind nature and culture (858 replies), and health and wellbeing
(780 replies). It was further noted that the importance of access to gastronomy activities
increased until the age of 80 then it slowly began to decline. Because of this increasing
interest of seniors in nature and culture, gastronomic tourism is becoming a special
interest area for older travellers. Many seniors plan their vacations specifically to
incorporate culinary trips, and are particularly interested in sampling local food
products, and tasting authentic regional recipes. Lee, Scott and Packer (2014) conducted
qualitative interviews with 43 members of the ‘Slow Food’ movement to discuss factors
that influenced their travel destination choices. Lee, et al. (2014) concluded that despite
differences in culture, age, gender and occupation, all of the Slow Food members
preferred local cultural immersion. That is, to eat local food that they bought from
small-scale producers, to read local restaurant menus, to participate in local food events,
and to enrol in cooking classes whenever possible. One of the males interviewed who
was over 60 years of age stated that, “Every time I travel I try local food, particularly
street food”. Another female (over 60) also said, “I eat what local people are eating…I
always stay a weekend and visit the local market, where producers show their fresh
products, cheese…I love it”.

Several researchers have offered advice about food preferences to tourism

operators when providing specific programs for senior tourists. That is, they need to be
aware of older people’s preferences for slower paced tours, choosing their own food

10
menus, and to avoid early morning departures (Massow, 2000).

Conclusion

Food tourism represents a multifaceted research area that is increasing becoming more
prominent, and emerging from the outer fringes of academic research to the forefront of
tourism policy, geographical theory, cultural studies and sociological analysis. Recently
it has been referred to as special interest tourism (Douglas et al., 2001) or niche tourism
(Novelli, 2005), and its potential role as an instrument for regeneration is attracting
interest through government policies, destination marketing strategy plans and travel
media coverage has also been noted (Everett and Aitchison, 2008). Greater knowledge
of the hospitality industry in general and food tourism consumer behaviour in particular
is encouraging stakeholders in the food tourism industry to more effectively target and
develop the senior market, and to help persuade the consumer to purchase local and
regional food products and services (Mitchell & Hall, 2003).
The growth in population ageing and the shift toward greater longevity is créating
increased attention in the culinary tourism sector, and of thean awareness of the need to
offer more apporopriate services that are better tailored to the consumer needs of
seniors. This increased growth in the number of older adults is placing greater economic
power in the hands of older consumers who are demanding products and services that
are more suitable to their needs with an emphasis on active and healthy lifestyles.
Many older travellers are experienced travellers, and show a willingness to travel during
the off peak season when it is cheaper, and to be away from home for longer periods of
time than previous generations. They often have a greater desire to have authentic
‘hands on’ experiences that may include nature, adventure, education and culture (or a
combination) than previous generations. Because senior travellers have greater
purchasing power through increased income, many also value quality in services that
are provided. In an era of fast changing consumer profiles and leisure behaviour, these
aspects provide significant potential to support the growth in the gastronomy sector and
is becoming a significant component of the senior tourism segment of the industry.

11
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