Analysis of the Best Ager market for the tourism industry

Research Paper (undergraduate) from the year 2007 in the subject Business economics - Offline Marketing and Online Marketing, grade: 2, Fontys University of Applied Sciences Venlo, language: English, abstract: This report deals with the analysis of the Best Ager market for the tourism industry. It first presents the several segmentation methods in the theoretical part and defines the term Best Ager. Then proposals for segmenting the Best Ager market are given. The best methods are developed by the two agencies Grey and TNS Emnid. They use methods which combine lifestyle variables with demographic variables which is most suitable for segmenting the Best Ager market. A tour operator can either stick to these proposals or segment the market with primary research data on itself if it has the necessary financial resources to do so. After the proposals for segmenting the Best Ager market, the travel market is analysed .First the general trends are mentioned and then the trends for the Best Agers are analysed to investigate if the Best Ager market has a potential for the tourism industry in the future. Additionally the demographic development in Germany and the financial situation of the Best Agers is analysed to display if the market will grow in the future and if the Best Agers have the income and assets to afford traveling in the future. The Best Ager market will increase in the future due to decreasing birth rates and longer life expectancies. The financial situation at the moment is quite promising because the pensions are still high and the inherited money is likely to increase in the future due to savings of the past generations. The Best Agers today like to travel and an increase in traveling, especially in trips abroad, city trips, air travels and packaged holidays is expected in the future. The travel propensity for the over 60 year's olds lies at about 68%. The preferred holiday forms of the Best Agers are cruises and study trips. The most popular holiday destination is Spain and it is likely to increase in the future. Many Best Agers also like to stay longer in the warmer regions especially in the winter months. This has already been recognized by the tour operators but still can be improved and the offers can be more extended. Best Agers in comparison to other target groups have a high focus on quality and price/quality ratios have to be therefore of an accepted standard. Best Agers like good food and also try the specialties of the different countries or regions, the hotels have to recognize this important fact. [...]