Abstract
This chapter explores the evolving demand for energy-intensive long distance leisure travel in retirement, a phenomenon which is widely predicted to be on the increase due to demographic change, rising retirement incomes and the retirement of the baby boomer generation, often labelled as the first consumer generation. We undertook serial interviews with three cohorts of people in London and Birmingham, UK, who were respectively approaching retirement, recently retired and longer retired. Drawing on interview material we discuss the different ways in which the time of retirement is imagined, experienced and consumed, and argue that understanding these different and sometimes competing temporal aspects of later life leads to a more nuanced understanding of the dynamics of demand for retirement leisure travel and its potential trajectories.
This is a preview of subscription content, log in via an institution to check access.
Access this chapter
Tax calculation will be finalised at checkout
Purchases are for personal use only
Bibliography
ABC. 2015. Increase in elderly travellers poses new challenges for airline industry. Available at: http://www.abc.net.au/radionational/programs/breakfast/increase-in-elderly-travellers-poses-new-challenge/6565668
Age UK. 2016. Invisible but invaluable army of carers save state billions. Available at: http://www.ageuk.org.uk/richmonduponthames/news--campaigns/invisible-but-invaluable-army-of-carers-save-state-billions/
Alén, E., N. Losada, and T. DomÃnguez. 2012. New opportunities for the tourism market: Senior tourism and accessible tourism. In Visions for global tourism industry – Creating and sustaining competitive strategies, ed. M. Kasimoǧlu. Rijeka: InTech.
Buhalis, D., S. Darcy, and I. Ambrose, eds. 2012. Best practice in accessible tourism: Inclusion, disability, ageing population and tourism. Bristol: Channel View Publications.
Cox, E., S. Royston, and J. Selby. 2016. The impacts of non-energy policies on the energy system: A scoping paper. London: UKERC. Available at: http://www.ukerc.ac.uk/asset/1B9BBB2F-B98C-4250-BEE5DE0F253EAD91/
European Commission, Enterprise and Industry Directorate-General. 2014. Europe, the best destination for seniors: Facilitating cooperation mechanisms to increase senior tourist’s travels within Europe and from third countries in the low and medium seasons – Experts draft report. Available at: http://ec.europa.eu/DocsRoom/documents/5977/attachments/1/translations/en/renditions/native
Fox, E., H. Russell, R. Day, et al. 2017. Demanding distances in later life leisure travel. Geoforum 82: 102–111.
Gilleard, C., and P. Higgs. 2005. Contexts of ageing: Class, cohort and community. Cambridge: Polity.
Gladwell, N.J., and L.A. Bedini. 2004. In search of lost leisure: The impact of caregiving on leisure travel. Tourism Management 25: 685–693.
Harper, S. 2014. Economic and social implications of aging societies. Science 346: 587–591.
HM Government. 2010. Equality act 2010.
Howitt, O.J., V.G. Revol, I.J. Smith, et al. 2010. Carbon emissions from international cruise ship passengers’ travel to and from New Zealand. Energy Policy 38: 2552–2560.
Hunter, W., W. Wang, and A. Worsley. 2007. Retirement planning and expectations of Australian babyboomers. Annals of the New York Academy of Sciences 1114: 267–278.
Katz, S. 2000. Busy bodies: Activity, aging, and the management of everyday life. Journal of Aging Studies 14: 135–152.
Macnaghten, P., and J. Urry. 1998. Contested natures. London: Sage.
Müggenburg, H., A. Busch-Geertsema, and M. Lanzendorf. 2015. Mobility biographies: A review of achievements and challenges of the mobility biographies approach and a framework for further research. Journal of Transport Geography 46: 151–163.
Muller, T.E., and A. O’Cass. 2001. Targeting the young at heart: Seeing senior vacationers the way they see themselves. Journal of Vacation Marketing 7: 285–301.
Office for National Statistics. 2014. Health expectancies in the United Kingdom, Great Britain, England, Wales, Scotland & Northern Ireland. Available at: https://www.ons.gov.uk/peoplepopulationandcommunity/healthandsocialcare/healthandlifeexpectancies/datasets/healthexpectanciesintheunitedkingdomgreatbritainenglandwalesscotlandnorthernireland
———. 2015. Inequality in healthy life expectancy at birth by national deciles of area deprivation: England, 2011–2013. Available at: http://webarchive.nationalarchives.gov.uk/20160114055601/ http://www.ons.gov.uk/ons/rel/disabilityand-health-measurement/inequality-in-healthy-life-expectancy-at-birth-by-national-deciles-of-area-deprivation-england/index.html
Özogul, G., and G.G. Baran. 2016. Accessible tourism: The golden key in the future for the specialized travel agencies. Journal of Tourism Futures 2: 79–87.
Pensions Policy Institute. 2013. Demographics. Available at: http://www.pensionspolicyinstitute.org.uk/pension-facts/pension-facts-tables/table-1-demographics
Scheiner, J. 2007. Mobility biographies: Elements of a biographical theory of travel demand. Erdkunde 62: 161–173.
Sedgley, D., A. Pritchard, and N. Morgan. 2011. Tourism and ageing: A transformative research agenda. Annals of Tourism Research 38: 422–436.
Street, D., and J.S. Cossman. 2006. Greatest generation or greedy geezers? Social spending preferences and the elderly. Social Problems 53: 75–96.
Szerszynski, B. 2002. Wild times and domesticated times: The temporalities of environmental lifestyles and politics. Landscape and Urban Planning 61: 181–191.
Tarlow, P. 2007. Tourism: Dealing with the senior market. Destination World News. Available at: http://www.destinationworld.info/newsletter/feature36.html. Accessed 20 Nov 2016.
The Economist. 2016. Shades of grey. The Economist. Available at: http://www.economist.com/news/britain/21690060-pensioners-incomes-are-now-higher-those-working-households-some-are-doing-much. Accessed 9 Mar 2017.
Tsiotsou, R.H., V. Ratten, and S. Hudson. 2010. Wooing zoomers: Marketing to the mature traveler. Marketing Intelligence & Planning 28: 444–461.
Urzi Brancati, C., and B. Franklin. 2015. Here today, gone tomorrow: How today’s retirement choices could affect financial resilience over the long term. London: International Longevity Centre. Available at: http://www.ilcuk.org.uk/images/uploads/publication-pdfs/Here_today,_gone_tomorrow_1.pdf
Weiss, R.S. 2005. The experience of retirement. Ithaca: Cornell University Press.
Acknowledgements
This work was supported by the Engineering and Physical Sciences Research Council [grant number EP/K011723/1] as part of the RCUK Energy Programme and by EDF as part of the R&D ECLEER Programme.
Author information
Authors and Affiliations
Editor information
Editors and Affiliations
Rights and permissions
Copyright information
© 2018 The Author(s)
About this chapter
Cite this chapter
Day, R., Hitchings, R., Fox, E., Venn, S., Hibbert, J.F. (2018). Leisure Travel and the Time of Later Life. In: Hui, A., Day, R., Walker, G. (eds) Demanding Energy. Palgrave Macmillan, Cham. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-319-61991-0_9
Download citation
DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-319-61991-0_9
Published:
Publisher Name: Palgrave Macmillan, Cham
Print ISBN: 978-3-319-61990-3
Online ISBN: 978-3-319-61991-0
eBook Packages: Social SciencesSocial Sciences (R0)