Older Australians more adventurous than their kids

Online travel company Expedia.co.nz questioned 1000 Australians and 500 New Zealanders - weighted to provide a cross-section of the population - about their travel tastes.

It found that older Kiwis are heading for Eastern Europe, South America, Africa or Asia. Nearly half of those in the 55-59 years age bracket said they were keen to travel to exotic places. Most of those in their twenties apparently dream only of trips to the standard destinations like Fiji, Rarotonga and Australia. Less than a third of those aged 25-29 were interested in going somewhere more adventurous.

As Expedia's local marketing manager puts it: "These survey findings fly in the face of conventional thought that 20-somethings are open-minded to new and different experiences.”. She went on to say: "The findings that New Zealanders of the baby-boomer generation are more up to veering off the well-beaten travel path is ... an indication that people are more intrigued by lesser-known destinations as they get older."

These findings are bang in line with the research I did with OMD that found that older Australians are more adventurous, more willing to take risks, more interested in technology than their kids.

I had to laugh having just read a blog from a young Kiwi who is definitely suffering from a sense of humour failure and is moaning about older people are to blame for all the ills of the world. If he ever reads this blog he might want to look at my letter to the FT on a similar subject. Come on mate, lighten up and take a few more long haul flights like your mum dad. Dick Stroud

Luxury experiences not luxury stuff

Some new research has just been published by McKinsey about the decline in Japanese consumer’s seemingly insatiable appetite for luxury goods. Sorry, the article is subscription only.

Just look at the graphic showing the responses, by age, to the statement: “I prefer spending money on luxury experiences rather than buying luxury accessories, handbags, or apparel."

The over-55s is the group most likely to agree with this statement. Travel seems to be the main beneficiary of this shift from stuff to experiences.

I thought these were a couple of interesting quotes from the article.

The manager of a leading luxury hotel in Tokyo told us that the vast majority of his guests are Japanese, including many Tokyo residents: “A large part of our customer base is 35- to 55-year-old ladies with money, so we are going after the same wallets as the luxury manufacturers are.”

Meanwhile, luxury goods are losing their lustre. Across demographic groups, one-third of all consumers—and as many as 43 percent of those 55 or older—agreed that “owning luxury goods is not as special as it used to be.” Only 32 percent of the respondents said they were “very” or “somewhat” interested in luxury products, compared with 51 percent in the same survey in 2004.

I reckon this is a universal trend that isn’t going away, anytime soon. Companies had better get to understand what it means to their business. Dick Stroud

Ageing and travel business

I have recently had another encounter with the hospitality and travel industry.

In a fit of idiocy I was persuaded to do the Three Peaks Challenge.

A word of advice - if anybody suggests you do this walk think of a good excuse. Failing that think of a bad excuse!

Seriously, it was a great experience and I am sure at some stage I will stop hobbling.

I took a train from Glasgow to Fort William, where the walk starts. It is one of the most beautiful train journeys in the world. I couldn’t resist doing a quick survey of the age profile of the passengers. I reckon between 60% - 70% were 50-plus.

Before the walk I stayed at the local Youth Hostel. Here again I reckon the age profile was well into the majority being 50-plus. Makes a bit of a mockery of the name ’Youth’ hostel.

I wonder if either the Scottish Youth Hostels or the local rail company had thought through the implications on their business of ageing population. I doubt it. Dick Stroud

Not bad e-mail marketing

I am not a fan of 50connect, but since meeting the guy from the company who did the Web site re-design I have been taking a bit more interest in the company.

This morning I received an e-mail from the company. My quick scan transformed into a detailed read. You cannot ask any more than that from an e-mail. Dick Stroud

Some research about travel and the 50-plus

Research (from Alliance & Leicester) has looked at the goals and ambitions of the UK’s 50 plus and shows that travel is at the top of their agenda. Over half (54%) want to travel more regularly and to long-haul destinations and a further (22%) want a “once in a lifetime holiday” in the next decade.

Travel even takes priority over spending more time with friends and family (48%), getting fit (37%), and finding a healthier way of life (31%).

Australia and New Zealand are top of the list of travel hotspots, with 26% wanting to visit down under, followed by countries in Europe (21%) and the USA (9%).Those wanting to see a bit more is a lowly 8%.

This research doesn’t make any distinction between ‘want’ and ‘intend’. I think all you can take from it is that travel is important – but then we already knew that! Dick Stroud

Austria tourism and the 50-plus

Austria is a funny place. It’s a country that is on your radar if you like skiing and mountain climbing but I can’t think of too many other reasons to go there – maybe if you are a devotee of William Tell? Having said that, Vienna is a nice, oldie worldie sort of place.

It appears that 'oldie' is the operative word when it comes to Austria. This article explains that the average age of a summer tourist in Austria is 50-plus (55% of tourists). Only 8% are younger than 30 years old.

The advice being given to Austrian tour companies is that 'wellness' oriented type holidays might still be OK but mountaineering and biking holidays are increasing in importance.

I wonder if we don’t over-play this idea of the ‘active 50-plus’? It is the sort of statement that I know gets a lot of nods when I present at conferences but it must be balanced against the other, much more obvious, trend to obesity and lethargy. Maybe the 50-plus’s waist size will become a new form of market segmentation? Dick Stroud

The Retirement Show

This weekend in London there is a Retirement Show.

I have just had a look at the web site detailing the programme of events and seminars. The effect it had on me was - how shall we put it - not positive.

It starts with a demonstration of ballroom dancing, moves swiftly on to Tai Chi, followed by a shot of Jazz, then a senior fashion show building to a grand finale of senior bodybuilding. Why does the thought of attending something like this fill me with horror?

Bizarrely I am interested in some of these activities (not the bodybuilding I hasten to say) but not when they are presented as such a programme of events.

As a child I remember the horror of having to attend an event, read something, meet people or some other activity that adults thought somebody of my age would like. This event creates exactly the same emotion.

I am sure there are countless Brits who are counting the minutes until the doors open at the Retirement Show. I won’t be one of them. I would be interested to hear other people’s views. Dick Stroud

50-plus holidays in Spain

We all know that travel combined with a tad of culture/education/skills training is popular with some of the 50-plus.

I noticed this new venture providing holidays, primarily in Spain, but also in Italy, Holland and Belgium.

The blurb from the press release says:

Plusabroad is run by a Madrid-based, mixed team of Spanish and American professionals in marketing, business administration, informational technology and communications. It is a provider of educational travel in Europe where "edutainment" and low-impact adventure edu-travel are the key words.

Some of the holidays look really interesting, but I started wondering if I would prefer to be on a holiday with a load of other 50-plus or in a mixed age group. I plumped for the multi-age option.

My guess, and it is only a guess, is that this will be the preference for most people. I am sure somebody will tell me that I am wrong. Anyway, I wish plusabroad.com well. Dick Stroud

More 55+ Internet users than 35-44 year olds

UK internet users aged 55-plus are set to overtake 35-44 year olds as the demographic age group with the largest representation online. Those aged 55+ accounted for 22% of UK visits to all categories of websites in the four weeks to 12 May 2007, up 54% since 2005 and 40% since 2006. This compares to 23.5% of Internet visits from 35-44 year olds.

The VP of Research for Hitwise UK commented: "Among the top categories visited by those aged 55+, Search Engines, Adult and Shopping & Classifieds are the favorites, and are consistent with the most visited categories overall". Not surprisingly, Travel and News and Media websites are also high volume sites. Last week, 27% of visits to Travel websites and 24% of visits to News and Media websites were from those aged 55+.

You can read more about this analysis in this press article from Internet Retailing. Dick Stroud

Eons launches a travel web site

Eons is the social networking site that most people follow and ape.

Well a new bit of the company’s grand vision became visible a couple of days ago with the launch of its dedicated travel web site.

If you are an 'eonsite' you better have a look. Dick Stroud

Boomers, the Web and the Travel Industry

Last week I gave a presentation at a conference organised by Millennium about Boomers and the Travel Industry.

You can watch – and listen – to the presentation. This is a shorterned version. You can download the full version of the presentation in PDF format from my web site. Dick Stroud

Travel and cookery get the video habit

This is an off-subject blog posting about video. At the beginning of 2007 I suddenly became aware that the future moved. I think video-free web sites will soon start to look the same way that animated GIF's appear to us today.

Here are a three examples of companies using video to bring life (and value) to their Web activities.

Lonely Planet has launched a brand new online channel featuring the best travel videos from around the world. This is a vertical YouTube for travel. You can upload and watch videos created by Lonely Planet as well as other travelers. Users can rate each video, share them with friends and create playlists and friend groups. All good Web 2.0 stuff.

Ocado is a rapidly growing home delivery grocery service. Instead of boring old recipes go and look at how to prepare the meal and with a push of the button add all of the ingredients to your shopping basket. Now that is smart marketing.

The dreaded Martha Stewart has just launched her new web site that is dripping with video.

No video no credible web presence - what do you think - is this the message of 2007? Dick Stroud

Advice for the over-50s travelling abroad

The UK’s Foreign and Commonwealth Office has measured an upsurge in the cases of over 50s needing consular assistance – that is code for getting themselves in a mess and needing help from the local government official.

Over 50s now represent 35% of people making all trips abroad, and new research reveals that nearly 70% of them say they are more adventurous with their trips now than ten years ago. Over a third have visited more than 20 countries and almost a fifth have taken part in adventure activities like bungee jumping or abseiling on recent holidays.

“In our recent research we were surprised to discover that a massive 65% of over 50s didn’t take out travel insurance,” said a government spokesman. “In addition, nearly half didn’t research their destination and only 27% made a note of their credit card number.” Good grief, make a note to make a note of my credit card numbers!

Full marks to the UK’s Foreign Office for joining forces with Lonely Planet to launch ‘World Wise’, an advice book aimed at older travelers. Dick Stroud