Access Tourism NZ TOURISM FOR PEOPLE WITH DISABILITIES, SENIORS, AND AGEING BOOMERS IN NEW ZEALAND AND WORLDWIDE

Michael Londregan, a California-based travel agent, who oversees Qantas’s holiday arm in the US and Canada, said at the Australian Tourism Exchange trade fair in Adelaide recently that Baby Boomers were the key market returning to international travel (The Australian).   In fact, Australia has for several years now been aware of the increasing importance of ageing Baby Boomers to the market in many sectors.  For example, demographer Bernard Salt, from business advisory firm KPMG, told the Australian Tourism Export Council (ATEC) symposium there would be a soaring popularity in health-based tourism, from spa treatments to cosmetic surgery, as the wealthy and cashed-up Baby Boomers of the western world reached their 60s, 70s and 80s in the next decade and beyond. ATEC also recognizes that Baby Boomers are the growing international drive market and that they have the time and money to spend exploring destinations that are off the traditional tourist track.  They also recognize that growth in the cruise industry is being “fueled by the ageing of many domestic populations and the relative wealth of retiring Baby Boomers”.