Impact of tourist trips on seniors’ migrations – case study from Poland

Abstract

Understanding elderly consumers’ behaviour can be an effective tool for planning the tourist market. The changing demographic structure of the population poses new challenges, which require greater involvement of both the state and the private sector in addressing the issues of the aging society. The main objective of the article was to determine whether seniors’ tourist trips impacted on their final migration. An additional purpose was to establish the senior migrant profile. In order to answer the research question, primary quantitative research was performed, which consisted in collecting information from respondents through a standardized questionnaire. To systematize the reasons for seniors’ migrations, a cluster analysis (Ward’s method) was applied. The seniors moved to places where they found a clean environment of considerable tourist values. The migration improved their living standards and life quality. Almost half of the pensioners had previously visited the place where they moved to permanently.