According to research from the Dutch Tour operator and Travel Agencies Association ‘ANVR’, the Dutch bank ‘ABN Amro’ and the ‘National Elderly Foundation’ the seniors are one of the most important target audiences for the travel industry. The expectation is that in the upcoming five years the turnover of senior holidays will grow with a half billion euro. That’s an increase of almost 100 million euros a year. And by 2035 Holland will have 4.6 million senior citizens.
The travel industry for seniors is growing
Quite remarkable, whilst the Dutch population will barely grow the next 5 years, the number of senior citizens (65+) is expected to grow by almost 8%. In addition to this, the Dutch elderly will also have more money to spend and they are fitter than ever. This gives Dutch tour operators and foreign destinations big chances and opportunities, with specialized offers tailor-made offers for the elder people.
The Dutch economy had some rough years, but according to that the trust of the consumers in the travel industry had never been this big. Since 2017, the Dutch economy is growing slightly by 3.25%. This also has positive effects for the travel industry. The revenue of the travel industry grew in 2017 with 13.3%. According to figures released by ‘ANVR Gfk Travelscan’ the forecast will be that package holidays will grow with over 8%, and a big part of these booked holidays is a originating from elderly.
Seniors are more online
An upcoming trend is that more seniors are active online, also when it comes down to booking holidays. In 2016, 22% of the seniors booked a holiday online, this is a total increase of 42% over the last five years. The travel industry have to respond very well to this trend with appropriate content and reviews of holidays written by other seniors.
Almost half of the seniors are going on holiday to discover a new place. Four out of ten seniors have a bucketlist mostly filled with city trips. Another popular way to spend their holiday is to go on vacation with their children/grandchildren, 15% of the seniors is spending their holidays with family. For tour operators it’s important to connect with the seniors and offer specialized holidays based on the needs and wishes of the seniors.
