Seniors are the new wave

Academics suggest Thailand is high on the travel agenda for Europe’s seniors, but marketing to this segment is sketchy and erratic.

Thailand Tourism Development Research Institute presented recent research findings in a report titled “Promotion of Senior Travellers from Europe to Thailand.”

Dr Ranee Esichaikul’s research shows seniors appreciate Thailand as a travel destination, but it indicates there is a lack of continuous and serious promotion targeting this market sector.

“In 2020, the seniors’ generation will increase to 700 million people. In the US, over the next 17 years, 8,000 people a day will celebrate their 60th birthday. In Japan, the number will be as high as 8,500 people a day,”said TRI director, Dr Therdchai Choibamroong, when explaining the research rationale and parameters.  “However, we  focused on Europeans because they were less sensitive and constituted the majority of senior people travelling to Thailand.”

Dr Ranee’s research was based on 430 questionaire  interviews with European tourists, age over 55, in Bangkok, Chiang Mai, Hua Hin, Pattaya, and Phuket from February to July 2009.

She also used Tourism Authority of Thailand’s data that indicated senior travellers were a significant factor in arrivals data. In 2007, they represented 15.6% of all arrivals, or 2,259,161 of the overall 14,464,228 visits in that year. Most of them came from Europe – the UK, Germany, Sweden and France.

According to the report, senior tourists visit Thailand for three reasons – leisure, long stay, medical and wellness.

About 88.60% were frequent visitors to Thailand and 52.33% said they would repeat their trip in 2010. However, they also expressed interest in Vietnam, Malaysia and Singapore.

Most seniors said a lack foreign language skills was the single biggest drawback to visiting Thailand. Other less significant issues included:

Difficulties securing refunds from their own government for hospital treatment in Thailand;

Lack of service facilities and safety for senior people;

Taxi and transport cheats at tourism destinations;

Poor English signs and exorbitant fees at tourist attractions.

Dr Ranee said the government should conduct a pilot travel programme for European senior travellers with special discounts. Also, there should be special measures to promote long-stay tourists and those who travel for health and wellness reasons.

Research showed 41.40% of senior travellers are first time visitors to Thailand, while 31.86% have visited up to four times before. More than a half ( 58.37%) stay for more than 15 days.

Their favourite destinations were Bangkok, Chiang Mai and Phuket, while the popular month of travel was January. Most of them prepared their trips privately and travelled with a friend or partner using car rental and staying in four-star hotels.

The most powerful source of information was word-of-mouth accounts from friends and relatives, followed by travel agents or travel company recommendations.

The most important reason for travel to Thailand was the friendliness of its people (72.79%), followed by the country’s natural assets, value for money, food and beverage, historical and cultural tourism sites in that order.

The full report is free to travel industry executives on request to the author.