2.1. Senior tourism

Considering demographic changes in modern society, seniors are projected to be one of the most important segments for the tourism industry (^{Otoo & Kim, 2018}). Over the past decade, leisure travel has become more popular in older segments as a consequence global factors such as rise in life expectancy, better health conditions, higher disposable income and more availability of discretionary time in retirement age (^{Patuelli & Nijkamp, 2016}). In fact, senior tourism presents a market with significant potential.

So, there is an evident relationship between sociodemographic characteristics of senior tourists and travel motivation. Still, research about senior consumer behaviour intentions remains insufficient (^{Moniz, Medeiros, Silva, Ferreira, 2019}), but it has gained increased attention from tourism researchers as well as from service providers and governments (^{Patterson & Balderas, 2018}).

There is no exact definition of senior tourism in part because it is a heterogeneous market and older consumers are not all alike (Lehto et al. 2002, cited in ^{Patterson & Balderas, 2018}). Also, the concept does not end at the single dimension of age, but it is one of the most important criteria.

Regarding age stratification, based on ^{Alén, Dominguéz & Losada (2012}, pp. 142-143):

Hossain, Bailey and Lubulwa, (2003, cited in ^{Alén 2012}) say that seniors are those 55 years of age or older, and non-seniors are those under 55 but over 15 years of age. They segment seniors into two subgroups: younger seniors, from 55 to 64 years old and older seniors, 65 and older. According to ^{Tomka, Holodkov and Andjelković (2015}, p. 63), the definition of a senior tourist could be: (i) retired persons aged 60 who have more money and time to travel or are nearing retirement, but are still employed due to local regulations; (ii) sociological golden age or a tourist with an “empty nest” (no family obligations or care for offspring), and (iii) those that are normally passive tourists and are, as such, psychocentric.

Moreover, Alcaide (2005 cited in ^{Alén et al, 2012}) states that some companies set the senior age break at 55 years. According to this perspective, this is the age at which the consumer begins to sense different needs and forecast and plan for ageing; they are considered as part of the segment of the elderly in the banking system, which begins to differentiate and specialize treatment for them. “Other companies set the boundary at 60, the age that marks the differentiation between older people and the mature, and begin to consider the possibilities of offerings that are appropriate to the interests and realities of this group” (Alén et al. 2012, p. 143).

However, age alone cannot determine a whole segment, making it essential to attend to issues such as consumer behaviour, given their physical and mental condition. This idea is justified with the premise that tourism for the elderly is represented by people over 60, self-sufficient both physically and cognitively and with time and financial resources to travel, visit and enjoy a tourist destination (^{Alén et al., 2012}).

Senior tourism in the new panorama of social and business management can undoubtedly be taken as a growing and constantly evolving sector and, as already mentioned, much research has been undertaken in order to unravel its specificities. ^{Ridderstaat (2015}) concluded that the senior tourist is not a standard tourist, since tourists have specific preferences and codetermined motivations where aspects such as favourable climatic conditions, accessibility, cultural facilities and even less popular places are valued, thus contributing to reducing seasonality in certain contexts.

The concept of senior tourism alongside other types of tourism has evolved throughout its history, influenced by social, political and cultural contexts and environments. It sustains its credibility as an important and proven agent of change, which still needs to be explored and consolidated at corporate and institutional levels.

This situation undoubtedly represents a business opportunity; one only needs to look around and realize that in different parts of the globe, populations are increasingly ageing, with much of the responsibility resting on advances in medicine. According to ^{Le Serre (2008}), the senior tourist segment represents a profitable source of revenue for companies linked to the tourism sector, not only because of its growing size, characterized by the continuous ageing of the world population, but also due to availability and time to travel. “As with any new tourism phenomenon, motivation is an integral first step in exploring the prospects of the senior tourism segment. Continual research on senior tourists’ motivations reveals varying types of motives for which the elderly pursue travel” (^{Otoo & Kim, 2018}, p. 2).

2.2 Social and accessible tourism

Social tourism and accessible tourism have a relationship with senior tourism and with elderly people. First, social tourism presents a practice with great potential, but scarce research. What is sought with this typology is to make tourism a vehicle for access for all, regardless of their social condition or economic context. It is imperative to use tourism as a factor of social inclusion, and to allow travel to be accessible to the largest possible number of people, respecting the individual potential of each person and providing benefits of different orders from the economic, cultural and social.

In a broader sense, tourism is conceived as a means of promoting and sharing knowledge, where tourists acquire stimuli through contact with other situations. As argued by ^{Ferreira and Tomé (2014}, p. 209, cited in ^{Piedade, 2017}, p. 25), “tourism inevitably produces socio-spatial changes, insofar as it reorganizes the territory and establishes new uses (…) these transformations can be greater or lesser, creating social inclusion or exclusion depending on the way it is planned”. It is of utmost importance to teach and inform societies about this new paradigm, in which inclusion and access to leisure practices are not yet a reality for everyone, and only through this recognition can people be made aware of the differences and the need to combat these asymmetries.

According to ^{Piedade (2017}, p. 26) “… social tourism becomes an instrument for promoting socio-positive relationships between people of different cultures, of different levels of socialization, being a dynamic element in the sharing of valuable experiences for development political and socio-cultural dimensions”. For this practice to become sustainable, one cannot depend only on local power, but also on interpersonal relationships, where local communities can be the link between the tourist and the destination, allowing their integration.

^{Silva (2018}), also argues that it is mandatory to conceive social tourism as an opportunity to leverage and enhance the social sector; it is necessary to look at this practice based on a concept of inclusion, opportunity, solidarity and above all cohesion. The author also expresses social tourism as an opportunity to democratize access to that segment of the population with fewer financial resources and still contribute to combating seasonality in the activity, to foster networking and the creation of institutional partnerships. It can also make a great contribution to local economies, considering that social innovation today must be seen as a distinguishing factor of success (Silva, 2018). This raises new questions, namely the need that entities in the sector will have to face, that is, the necessity to reinvent themselves while creating value, generating wealth and reinforcing territorial cohesion. In line with this, ^{Lima (2017}) assumes that social tourism should be tourism for all and should be seen as an act of social responsibility and argues the concern to think and rethink inclusive strategies emerges in order to cover the most disadvantaged segments of the population in tourist activity. Figure 1 shows the dynamics of social tourism based on the literature review.

Figure 1 Dynamics of Social Tourism. Source: Authors’ elaboration based on the literature review. 

Senior tourism is also directly linked to accessible tourism because disability is often directly related to the elderly (^{Alén et al., 2012}). Considering the perspective of tourism for all, integrated into social tourism and accessible tourism standpoints, all tourists can be active participants in the tourism sector, regardless of their characteristics, abilities and needs. In this case, social tourism was created with the objective of making leisure tourism available to a broad segment of the population promoting “leisure and conviviality among disadvantaged groups, in fact providing resources to those groups with limited resources - the elderly, young people or people with different abilities - in order to allow them to travel with the appropriate conditions of economy, accessibility, safety and comfort” (Alén et al., 2012, p. 145).

2.3 Travel motivations of seniors

According to ^{Nella and Christou (2016}), the continuous monitoring of market trends is one of the most important roles that marketing scientists and practitioners should fulfil. As is well known, tourism is significantly affected by major demographic cultural and economic trends, and this responsibility becomes crucial for destination marketers and other tourism marketers. Thus in this context (^{Sedgley, Pritchard & Morgan, 2011}), it is not surprising that the tourism industry has recognized the market potential of older people and tourism research has tended to focus on developing competitive business and marketing strategies to target these consumers, mainly concerning their motivations.

The senior tourism market can have a positive impact on seasonality since it provides a solution to bridging the gap between lean and peak destination seasons. On the other hand, concerning the socio-personal perspective, travel contributes to the improvement of quality of life and promotes active ageing (^{Otoo & Kim, 2018}). Also according to these authors, in an overview of the senior travel motivation literature, it is possible to sum up some perspectives:

There is no agreement regarding the classification of senior travel desires. However, they can be categorized in four groups (^{Otoo & Kim, 2018}, p. 17):

According to ^{Tomka, Holodkov and Andjelković (2015}, p. 64), based on international research with the “third age”, the authors identify eight factors of travel as beneficial for the elderly: excitement, family ties, self-development, physical activity, safety, social status, escape from everyday life and relaxation. Another referenced study points out two categories of motivations: i) external prerequisites, which include social advancement, adequate personal financial means, time, health condition, support of senior’s family to travel and responsibility, as well as the wish to travel; ii) internal wishes that include the improvement of well-being, constant removal displacement, socialization, knowledge resulting from visiting a new destination, pride, patriotism, personal gain and nostalgia in the broadest sense. It is possible to make a comparison between senior and other travel segments and the authors ^{Otoo & Kim (2018}, p.18) come to these conclusions:

2.4 Senior experience and consumer behaviour

A global demographic shift is leading to an increasing number of older citizens and senior tourism is becoming more important worldwide. The senior market has gained increasing interest from the tourism industry, mainly because of its considerable size and time flexibility (^{Carneiro, Eusébio, Kastenholz & Alvelos, 2013}). For that, it is important to understand the profile of this type of segment, according to their travel behaviour. In segmenting the market, considering motivations, some of the literature considers older people in various marketing groups using demographic and psychographic data; lifestyle and attitudinal factors; educational and income levels; and even housing type and ownership (^{Sedgley et al., 2011}).

There are different factors that influence the behaviour of this type of traveller. For instance, Huber, Milne and Hyde (2019) conclude that life events can have a strong impact on senior tourism behaviour, since they can interrupt existing travel patterns or prompt new ones. From a different perspective, ^{Hwang and Lee (2018}) designed a study to identify the important role of tour guides’ professional competencies in the senior tourism market, concluding that travel agencies should educate tour guides to understand the characteristics of senior tourists. ^{Carneiro et al. (2013}) also conclude in their study that promoting activities that encourage involvement with the local community and contact with nature is important when developing social tourism programmes for the senior market. These are some examples of different approaches that have been undertaken when studying this type of market: (i) studies that focus more on the pre-visit behaviour, trying to better understand the factors that influence the behaviour of this segment; (ii) studies that focus on factors after the visit has taken place, particularly in terms of satisfaction.

This type of market is highly characterized by people looking for unique experiences which are adapted to their rhythm and their time and which allow them a more direct and consistent contact with the local population and bring back many of their past experiences to them. Thus, this type of tourism is entirely conditioned by the expectations of the senior tourist, despite their motivations, and also by their physical and social conditions. The following table presents a general characterization of consumer behaviour in the senior tourism segment:

Table 1 General characterization of senior tourist consumer behaviour 

Source: Nikitina & Vorontsova (2015, p. 851).

Undoubtedly, this tourism practice brings with it a certain rejuvenation in the values ​​and lifestyles of this layer of the population. But in some contexts, older people are still a little apprehensive about more innovative tourism practices, favouring more conservative tourism activities that inspire greater confidence. This type of tourist is “also loyal to a travel formula, identified by a type of travel and accommodation, a thematic motivation, the involvement of fellow travellers and social identification, at bottom far more psychocentric than allocentric” (^{Cavaco, 2009}, p. 44). However, one should never disregard their requirements and their demands; with an increasingly diversified and qualified offer of experiences, this market segment is also motivated to enjoy unique experiences that increase their quality of life and in some cases give them back their self-esteem and stimulate their active ageing.

There is some literature that attends to classifying different types of older tourist and it is not easy to establish one unique label. ^{Kim, Woo and Uysal’s study (2015}, p. 465) concludes that “the elderly tourist market is not one large homogenous group but rather that it can be segmented into smaller homogenous groups based on reasons for pleasure travel”. In this line of thought (You and O’Leary, cited in ^{Sedgley et al., 2011}, p. 3): i) there are three groups of older tourists, ‘passive visitors’, ‘enthusiastic go-getters’ and ‘cultural hounds’; ii) another classification includes (Kim, Wei & Ruys, 2003): ‘active learner,’ ‘relaxed family body,’ ‘careful participant’ and ‘elementary vacationer’, among others. In this context, it is important to consider that “the dominance of such approaches to understanding the lives of older people has meant that the nature and quality of their tourism experiences, particularly the meaning and value they attach to travel has been underserved” (Sedgley et al., 2011, p. 4). Therefore, this paper advocates that it is important to understand more deeply the opinions, perceptions and feelings of elderly tourists, not only before their experience, but also during and after (i.e. the whole process).

In this context, evaluating seniors’ tourist experience and their travel behaviour constitutes a major topic (^{Kim, Woo & Uysal, 2015}). In a demand-side approach, ideas such as “multi-sensory, fantasy, emotions and feelings”, “high levels of emotional intensity”, “constant flow of thoughts and feelings”, “consuming is engaging in tourism experiences”, “primarily seek and consume at destinations is engaging experiences”, “long-term memory” and “experience interrupts daily lives” have been used to define a tourism experience (for more information see ^{Amaral & Rodrigues, 2019}). Therefore, several dimensions of a senior tourism experience should be considered (e.g. involvement, perceived value, leisure life, satisfaction with trip experience, overall quality of life and revisit intention) (Kim, Woo & Uysal, 2015). This information will enrich the knowledge of the elderly tourism market through an understanding of their behaviours. Concurrently, travel preferences, perceptions and opinions vary between younger and older age groups and because of that it seems appropriate to evaluate the senior experiences and the dimensions that constitute this construct (e.g. health, personal safety, language, type of information, transport and accommodation, among others) (Batra, 2019). This is also argued by ^{Quan and Wang (2004}), who state that for a better understanding of the tourism experience concept, one should define and study the main dimensions. Finally, studies about tourist satisfaction (e.g. ^{Kozak, 2001}) demonstrate that all the attributes of a destination or a package (e.g. accommodation, transport, cleanliness, facilities & activities and relationships between tourists, among other examples) are important for an overall assessment of the satisfaction of the tourist experience. This should also be applied to the senior tourism market.

In order to better comprehend what the most appropriate marketing strategies for this type of segment are, this paper advocates taking a more integrated approach into consideration: the supply- and demand-side approach. Regarding the former, travel agents or other stakeholders involved should pay attention to the process of designing appropriate programmes or experiences for this type of segment. For instance, due to the particularities of this segment, inspection visits to the places where the programme will take place are of utmost importance in order to evaluate the tourism components to be included (quality and type of accommodation; location and accessibility of museums, churches, restaurants; type of transportation; and professionalism of tour guides). Observations in loco by the supply side is crucial, involving direct contact, visits and communication with the tourist services involved in the programme, since they know the circumstances of the place in question better than anyone. Regarding the latter (demand-side) it is not only important to understand the profile of senior tourists before the trip or experience takes place (their characteristics, motivations and sources of information); but also the after-experience: how they feel about it and what their opinion and perceptions are.

An understanding of the all stages of the experience should be tackled, since this approach is strongly related to senior tourism behaviours. It is believed that this type of marketing-integrated approach offers excellent opportunities for the tourism industry to design custom-tailored products and services.

3.1 Senior tourism marketing projects: some examples

Comprehensively, elderly consumers have different requirements compared with other market segments, and “these differences are expected to have marketing implications since older consumers may differ in their product needs, media habits and even in the way they process information” (^{Nella & Christou, 2016}, p. 3). In order to better understand these specific requirements and motivations, it is crucial to develop a framework based on the literature and try to identify some senior tourism projects in Portugal and Europe in general as good practices in the marketing of this form of tourism.There are several senior tourism programmes within social tourism, which means that for tourism to become accessible for all, the opportunity for underprivileged groups to travel must be opened, boosting local economies and employment opportunities at the same time. One well-known social tourism programme is CALYPSO, a European programme that was created in 2009. This programme targets four categories: seniors; youths aged 18-30; people with disabilities; and families on low incomes. Its budget was increased in 2011 from €1 million to €1.5 million in recognition of its potential to reach disadvantaged groups, also spreading the tourism season more evenly across the year. By encouraging low-season, cross-border tourism, CALYPSO increases the chances for travel for those who find it difficult to holiday abroad (see http://www.ecalypso.eu/steep/public/index.jsf). Still in Europe, it is important to consider that senior tourism is associated with accessible and inclusive tourism. It is important to highlight the ESCAPE project (see https://www.accessibletourism.org/?i=enat.en.enat_projects_and_good_practices.1883), a project that brings together eight partners who have joined forces with a view to working on enhancing the existing tourist infrastructure and staff in the low season, thus facilitating transnational exchanges off-season by concentrating on the senior citizen market. This project includes a total of five ESCAPE tourism packages targeting senior citizens during the low-season period.

Another European project is called SENIOR Train: European Senior Tourism Project. This project is about fostering senior travel throughout Europe by train, offering innovative dynamic tourism packages that include all transportation-related services as well as necessary information, accommodation and value-added services. This project aims to facilitate pan-European mobility for seniors by rail, developing innovative tourism packages that are tailor-made for the target group and its needs (https://www.accessibletourism.org/?i=enat.en.enat_projects_and_good_practices.1886).

The Seniors Go Rural - SenGoR - Senior Tourism Project is also worthy of mention; it defines a generic operative model to generate and market products based on individual arrangements that facilitate transnational tourism flows of seniors in the low season to rural micro-business and SMEs and their destinations. (see https://www.accessibletourism.org/?i=enat.en.enat_projects_and_good_practices.1885).

In Spain there is also an interesting project named Europe Senior Tourism, a programme of all-in holiday packages, which give an opportunity to discover Spain from October to May, including flights, transfers, three- or four-star hotel, half-board, spas, a destination experience and travel insurance (see http://www.europeseniortourism.eu/en/index.html). It consists of a travel programme sponsored by the Spanish government designed for European seniors aged over 55, who are resident in a European Union country (except Spain) and who wish to enjoy active holidays while sharing experiences.

In Portugal, the organization that provides the access to travel for elderly people is INATEL. The programme Inatel 55+ is an offer that is aimed at the senior market, aged 55 or over, and intends to offer all people who meet the requirements (age and expected income levels) the opportunity to travel, enabling them to occupy their free time through contact with the country's cultural, gastronomic and natural heritage.

The programme includes accommodation and diversified leisure activities, particularly cultural, innovative training in the fields of citizenship, healthy eating and health prevention, promoting social inclusion of citizens with a view to providing socio-cultural integration for the programme’s beneficiaries (see https://www.inatel.pt/getmedia/75ef1090-15ea-45d3-b12b-c98372cc9a52/PDF_Informativo-3.aspx). It lasts 6 days and 5 nights, on a full-board basis, including transportation, entertainment at the hotel and various activities of a recreational and cultural nature, as well as sightseeing tours accompanied by a tour animator.

One of the recent projects in Portugal is the Tu-Sénior 55+ - Senior Tourism and Well -Being in the Azores (see https://www.portugal2020.pt/content/projeto-nos-acores-vai-criar-produtos-turisticos-para-seniores). This project focuses on the design, structuring and development of a promotional product of sequenced actions and initiatives that integrate cultural and environmental activities in an coordinated framework and sets up an occupational itinerary that meets the health and well-being needs of people aged over 55.

These are just some examples that attempt to highlight the marketing perspective of targeting the senior market. Despite the differences among them, there are points in common such as: more in-depth market research about the main motivations; specificities and requirements of this type of market; the process of conceiving tourism experiences particularly directed at the senior market; and the message that these programmes do not have territorial boundaries, with a truly partnership-based model.

3.2 The “VOLTO JÁ” project: an overview as a case study

This article is based on a senior exchange project - VOLTO JÁ (“I’ll be right back”) - with the mission of providing tourism experiences to institutionalized elderly people in social economic organizations. The general aim is the operationalization of a social senior’ exchange programme between social economy organizations (SEO) that promote cultural, touristic and artistic experiences. This study is based on a single case study as one of the most frequently used qualitative research methodologies. Nevertheless, as argued by ^{Yin (2002}), one of the foundational methodologists in this field, it still is not yet sufficiently legitimized as a social science research strategy since it does not have a clear-cut protocol (Yin, 2002). This study is more in line with Merrian’s epistemological stance on the case study, since according to her, “the key philosophical assumption upon which all types of qualitative research are based is the view that reality is constructed by individuals interacting with their social worlds” (^{Merriam, 1998}, p. 6). In this sense, the case-study approach that guides the OEC model has as its primary interest understanding the meaning or knowledge constructed by people in a more integrated approach, in this case by institutions and seniors. In this sense, the project VOLTO JÁ has its foundation in the current scenario of population ageing. In our country, ageing rates are gaining momentum and it is important and even urgent to invest in initiatives that can fill some gaps, is not only an ageing country, but a scenario in which the elderly live in isolation and in unprotected economic as well as social contexts.

Tourism is a sector that has in fact evolved and expanded its intervention to the most diverse areas and to the most diverse target audience, regardless of their condition. In this sense, the VOLTO JÁ project is innovative and is based on the sharing of resources between SEO in order to enhance a value-added proposal. It is a programme that has a direct and immediate impact on the lives of the participants in the mobility through social inclusion and equal access to opportunities, and is a project structured by a multidisciplinary team from two higher education institutions (Polytechnic Institute of Santarém and Polytechnic Institute of Beja) and which also has Santa Casa da Misericórdia de Santarém as a partner institution.

The VOLTO JÁ project devises a set of actions with direct impact on seniors’ mobility and social exclusion. The elderly taking part in VOLTO JÁ will experience a recreational context, some of them for the first time (^{Oliveira et al., 2017}).The intention is to develop and implement a business model with a special focus on a senior institutionalized segment (in homes or day centres), based on a network of social economy institutions that guarantee exchange services in the Alentejo region. Through a mobility service between participating institutions, the model offers seniors the possibility of experiencing experiences similar to those of leisure and vacations and, at the same time, enjoying cultural moments and sharing experiences at low cost (Oliveira et al., 2017).

Implementation involves the design of a platform based on information and communications technologies (ICT) to manage: the registration of participating institutions (willing to promote exchanges for institutionalized senior individuals); the registration of seniors’ exchange services (demand and supply); and institutions' access to social tourism packages (accommodation, leisure experiences and tourist experiences, among others) (^{Amaral et al., 2019}; ^{Rodrigues, Amaral & Diniz, 2020}).

3.3 Evaluating tourism senior experiences: OEC model proposal

The whole process of designing and evaluating tourism experiences in senior mobility is framed by the OEC model (Organic, Experiential and Complex model), established on the basis of a set of data collection instruments which were carefully and appropriately chosen, according to the goals of each stage of the process. The OEC model is intended to be a framework for developing marketing strategies related to this segment, since it covers all stages of a senior experience (before, during and after). The rationale of the model is influenced by the destination image formation process (induced, organic and complex) as proposed by ^{Rodrigues, Correia & Kozak’s work (2012}) in their theoretical categories of the destination image construct. The organic image is the result of a reader's assimilation of material from newspapers, periodicals, and books previous to the experience of visiting a place (^{Gunn, 1972}; ^{Hankinson, 2004}). This leads to the importance of a pre-stage that takes place before a visit. The experiential image that is formed when the tourist is experiencing a destination (^{Vaughan & Edwards, 1999}); and the complex image obtained upon visiting selected destinations resulting from actual contact with the area (^{Fakeye & Crompton, 1991}). In sum, the OEC model is conceived as a catch-all model that aims to cover all the stages of a senior tourism experience.

Framed by this model, the study developed was based on the following research questions extracted from the literature review and is grounded on three main topics: senior tourism experience; experience dimensions and tourist satisfaction.

RQ1: How was the experience considered by the elderly participants who participated in the exchange programme?

RQ2: What were the main dimensions of the tourist experience in this exchange programme?

RQ3: What was the overall assessment of satisfaction with the experience by the elderly participants?

Because of that, the data provided by this model is crucial for the design of appealing tourism products and the corresponding communication, pricing and distribution strategies (i.e. marketing strategies).

The OEC model is divided into three stages (^{Rodrigues, Amaral & Diniz, 2020}):

Triangulation of methods and data is the goal in order to enrich the analysis by crossing multiple perspectives, insights and techniques. The OEC model follows all phases of the process of conceiving and evaluating tourist experiences in senior mobility in order to provide an evolutionary, holistic and dynamic view of the whole process to inject feedback into the system. They are all made up of distinct but complementary data collection tools.

The OEC model (see Figure 2) is grounded on the assumption that supply should be adapted to demand and each mobility programme has different specificities and contexts. All stages are fundamental and complement each other; each of them contributes so that the mobility programme is considered as offering unique and authentic experiences, fostering above all the essence and motivation of all stakeholders involved.

Figure 2 Model for Design and Evaluation of Tourism Experiences in Senior Mobility (OEC Model-Organic, Experiential, Complex Model). Source: ^{Rodrigues, Amaral & Diniz (2020}). 

Based on the goals of the present study, only the 1^st stage/Organic/Pre-mobility and 3^rd stage/Complex/Post-mobility will be considered for the methodology and results analysis. Further research will focus on the 2^nd stage/Experiential/Post-mobility.