Evidence abounds that the world population, particularly in the developed world, is ageing, a process which appears to be slow enough to encourage excuses for delaying prompt actions in some societal areas, but which is now fast enough to render costly consequences if planning is not undertaken with understanding and foresight. Like elsewhere, where birth rates have significantly slowed down coupled with a decline in death rates, the mainland Chinese population has been ageing with a proportion of the mature population growing ever steadily. The Fifth National Census of China documents that citizens of China over the age of 60 years (which is the generally accepted criterion for designating an ageing population) totalled 132 million or approximately 10 per cent of the population and people aged over 65 years totalled 88 million or 7 per cent of the total population (China.org, 2005). Urban cities, such as Beijing and Shanghai, have shown even stronger trends in the numbers of ageing people. For example, in Beijing, those over the age of 60 totalled 1.7 million in 2000 accounting for 12.54 per cent of the city’s population (China.org, 2005) while in Shanghai this figure reached 2.4 million accounting for 18.3 per cent of the population (Zhang and Zhang, 2001). By 2007, there will be 200 million Chinese aged 65 or older, making up 14 per cent of the total population (China Daily, 2004).
As part of this significant trend, mature travellers have important implications for China’s growing travel and tourism industry. The emerging and growing numbers of Chinese senior travellers may be attributed to the notable changes in societal values as well as economic and cultural conditions in China in the past decade. Unobligated time and discretionary income available to China’s seniors are among some of the motivating factors prompting a rise in domestic travel. In addition, the improvement in physical well-being and the influence of Western culture and values (e.g. knowledge acquisition and self-enhancement) play an important role in raising the frequency and propensity to travel among the ageing population. The continuing trend towards more “empty nest” families especially in the cities, further promotes more travel. In particular, Chen (2001) pointed out that the emerging urban senior traveller market in China may be attributed to more leisure time, strong financial support and the change in value and lifestyle.
In 1999, the number of senior travellers in China reached 5 million, accounting for 20 per cent of Chinese travellers. A survey conducted in Beijing by the Beijing ShenZhou International Travel Agency estimated that 44 per cent of senior travellers paid their travel expenses out of their own annuities or deposits while the remaining 56 per cent were financed by their children and relatives (Wang, 2000). A better understanding of the motivations of this significant market segment will create a win-win situation for both the travellers and the travel industry in that travellers’ needs will be better met and travel businesses will be rewarded with more customers and higher spending by their clients.
Seniors citizens in China have been through different periods of the country’s contemporary history. The older ones witnessed the Second World War, the Civil War, and the founding of the New China in 1949. Their lives were all affected by the Cultural Revolution, and the open-door policy and economic reforms. To varying degrees, they all experienced hardships and poor living standards when they were young, and their ideology is rooted in Chinese traditions. Influenced by the mixture of Confucianism, Taoism and Buddhism, these traditions place high values on family harmony, frugality and abstention from indulgence. To them, leisure travel would have been a luxury reserved for the rich and powerful. Yet, these traditions have converged with modernity brought about by the phenomenal development of the country’s economy since the adoption of the open-door policy and economic reforms in 1978. Some traditions began to give way to the demand for modern pleasures, including leisure travel. Domestic tourism in China was officially endorsed by the government in 1984. Even seniors, who are typically in the vanguard of old traditions, now embrace travel as an acceptable form of leisure.
The extant literature on senior travellers is abundant, but research on their motivation is relatively scarce and mostly in the context of developed economies and Western cultures. The sum of the values, customs and learned beliefs of non-Western tourists which drive their travel behaviour are purportedly different from those from the Western countries. American tourists, for example, tend to be active and adventurous in nature (Pizam and Jeong, 1996; Pizam and Sussmann, 1995) in contrast to Saudi Arabian tourists, who are more insular in their travel behaviour. Chinese social behaviour, which is profoundly influenced by Confucianism, manifests itself in areas of trust, association and authoritarianism. Importantly, Chinese people are more group-oriented in their pursuit of activities (including travel) and they seek harmony in their interactive environment (Bond, 1986; Ge et al., 1996).
The relationship between the seniors’ income and travel motivation has been well established in developed countries. For example, Zimmer et al. (1995) found that higher income level was significantly associated with a higher tendency to travel. Such relationship is applicable to China’s senior tourism as well. What is unique about the relationship in China is the mediating effects of the notion of family and intergenerational relationship. Numerous studies on seniors in developed countries concur that seniors have generally made their financial and time investment in home and family, have become free from their children’s dependency, and possess a relatively large share of all discretionary dollars (Anderson and Langmeyer, 1982; Blazey, 1992; Javalgi et al., 1992). The Western concept of financial independence between the seniors and their adult children is remote in China. To most seniors, their family always includes married children and the grandchildren, and they usually live with one of the married children. The intergenerational financial relationship is reciprocal both in the long term and the short term, and continues throughout the lifespan.
The intergenerational reciprocity between Chinese seniors and adult children also extends to the use of time. Most Chinese seniors are committed to taking care of their offspring even after they have grown up. They do whatever they can for their children as well as grandchildren. They are willing to sacrifice everything they have to maintain the family’s well-being. If there is any time conflict between travelling and their family, in most cases they would give up travelling.
Numerous studies conducted in developed countries identified indulgent relaxation as an important factor of motivations for seniors (e.g. Backman et al., 1999; Cleaver et al., 1999; Guinn, 1980; Kim et al., 1996; Sellick, 2004; Stone and Nicol, 1999). Travel, especially in the form of luxury vacation, is a means of rewarding themselves for dealing with present-day demands and boredom associated with staying home. It is almost an instant gratification. Chinese seniors reward themselves too through leisure travel, although not necessarily in the form of luxury vacation. However, the reward is not for coping with the present-day routine demands, but rather for the hardships and tough times they have experienced throughout their lifespan.
Before motivations can be instrumental in influencing tourists’ behaviours, it is important to understand what influences motivations and what are travellers’ primary motivations. Since Western theories and empirical findings may or may not be relevant to the Chinese context, this study used a qualitative approach to explore the complex issue of senior travel motivation. Specific objectives of the study are to identify senior travellers’ in-depth motivation, analyse the motivation data integrating the examination of Western theories’ applicability in the Chinese setting, and suggest issues for future research in the area of Chinese senior travellers. A qualitative approach was particularly appropriate considering the rich life experiences of the study population and the nature of the study – a first attempt to explore Chinese senior travellers’ motivation of leisure travel.
A total of 27 personal interviews were conducted between 3 and 15 October 2004 in the capital city, Beijing, and the largest metropolis of Shanghai. A pre-designed interview record sheet was used. The questions were both semi-structured and open-ended to encourage free expressions of interviewees’ thoughts and feelings. The interviewer applied probing and paraphrasing to facilitate recalls and allow delayed responses. Questions were organized in the categories of attitudes towards and motivations of leisure travel, factors influencing the realization of their travel, and their actual travel behaviours/trip characteristics. Some basic demographic information was also gathered.
All of the interviews were conducted in Chinese; 16 interviews were conducted in Beijing and 11 in Shanghai. One native Shanghai dialect speaker was recruited to help translate for the interviewer, who has some Shanghainese skills, as needed. Most of the interview sessions took 40–50 minutes, with a few lasting more than one hour. All the interviews were recorded by a digital recorder and the facial expressions and gestures of the interviewees were noted by the interviewer. Some potential respondents were approached in public areas, such as community common areas and public parks. An attempt to obtain permission from the community committee was made; the person in charge indicated that the researcher could approach the seniors directly. A total of 10 seniors in Beijing and 11 in Shanghai were approached in public areas; 4 and 8, respectively, didn’t want to participate. The other senior interviewees were referred by friends. Since in mainland China, the official retirement age is 55 for females and 60 for males, the interviewees were selected according to these age criteria.
Digital recordings of the interviews were transcribed into text for data analysis. An indexing method was used to organize the data. The analysis of the data involves disaggregating the mass of text into meaningful and related parts or categories, which allowed the researchers to rearrange and analyse these data systematically. Guided by the structure of the interviews and the research aim of the project, data were categorized into main themes and sub-themes. Some of the expressions by seniors were directly quoted to provide a trail of evidence to support the categorization pattern.
The analysis was undertaken and completed by two researchers independently and the results were compared to provide inter-analyst reliability. The resulting categories and sub-themes were further reviewed by a third researcher. Several runs of recategorization were conducted before a final structure was accepted. Because all researchers involved in the analysis are bilingual, the Chinese transcripts were analysed and themes and results were recorded in English. Direct quotes were translated into English by the researchers.
Of the interviewees 12 were females and 15 were males. The age range was 55–90, with 13 in the 55–69 age group, 11 in their 70s, 2 in their 80s and one aged 90 (see Table 26.1).
All of the 27 interviewees have had some experience of travel for leisure, business or visiting relatives or friends: 10 of them travelled for leisure frequently at the time of the survey; 14 used to travel for leisure from time to time, but had by then stopped travelling due to constraints of health, housework or financial conditions; 3 had only travelled for business prior to retirement.
Results of the analysis were classified into two themes: intrinsic desires and supporting external conditions. Data in each of the two themes were further categorized into several sub-themes.
Intrinsic Desires
Patriotism and pride. Some of the comments made about travel revealed the seniors’ pride in China’s development over the years. They talked about the great accomplishments of the country and said they would like to see the progress themselves. For example:
Since we don’t know very much about other places of our motherland, we can view the development and construction of our country after the open-door policy and the economic reforms through travelling, and that also makes us feel happy. (No. 1, 66-year-old male, retired, catering staff)
Improving mental and physical wellbeing. Many seniors indicated that the most important thing for them to do is to enhance health and improve life expectancy; 15 mentioned that they travelled for physical and mental health. They emphasized that travelling made them feel active and happy. As one of them put it:
After we view the scenery, we feel happy and we know about another place. Meanwhile, for example, we all have heart disease or coronary heart disease, but when we go out to travel, we feel recovered even though we don’t take medicine! We feel happy and broad-minded. We don’t feel tired while walking and talking with each other. I think it is necessary to travel. If you always sit at home, in low spirit, you have nothing to talk even you sit with others. You cannot really open your eyes and know the outside world only by watching TV and reading newspapers. (No. 4, 63-year-old female, retired, shop manager)
Table 26.1 Profile of the senior interviewees
Knowledge seeking. The desire to know the outside world and observe new things were noted strongly in the interviews; 14 said that they wanted to obtain more knowledge through travelling. They believed that travelling helps them enrich themselves, and thus makes them feel mentally healthy. The following comment was shared by many others:
For instance, when travelling in Xinjiang I would like to see the local people’s costumes and to know what clothing is for the unmarried, married and different ages. I can also learn some local dialect. All these help me to enrich my knowledge and enlarge my field of vision. It makes me happy and I don’t even feel tired after coming back. (No. 4, 63-year-old female, retired, shop manager)
Escaping daily routine. Escaping the daily routine and experiencing different things in another environment were the motivation for 7 of the interviewees. Though most of them are very satisfied with their current living conditions, they still need some stimulation to make them feel energetic and active after retirement. As one retired accountant put it:
I feel very bored if I always stay at home. Going out makes me feel happy. The views of other places are different from those of Shanghai. (No. 27, 74-year-old female, retired, accountant)
Socializing. For 7 of the interviewees travel was an opportunity to meet and communicate with others. They felt that socialization enriches life, and communication with others is good for their health. Below is a sample comment:
Travelling...enables people to communicate with each other and keep up with the current society. If you reach this age and always stay at home, you will feel very lonely. (No.10, 70-year-old male, retired, mechanical engineering)
Reward for hard work. For 6 of the interviewees enjoyment and relaxation associated with travel was a reward for hard work in their early years. Travel is regarded as a compensation and entitlement by some. After years of thrifty living and hardships, they felt it was time for them to reward themselves and enjoy the good things in life. One senior expressed her feelings like this:
I feel that I should not treat myself too unfairly. I should not always have to work so hard and live frugally. It is not necessary to be frugal any more, and I don’t need to. I had to be frugal when my two children went to school. (No. 5, 68-year-old female, retired, mechanical engineer)
Nostalgia. For 2 of the seniors, travelling was a means of reliving past experiences and bringing back memories. They would like to go back to places where they grew up, experienced a significant life event, or witnessed events of historical significance. One of them indicated:
I want to see the changes of the country. For example, when I was in my teens, I walked on the Xiaobei Road of Guangzhou. I still remember what it looked like at that time. Some of the Liberation Army soldiers were killed there. Is it the same as it was before? I want to have a look. (No. 16, 72-year-old male, retired, mechanical worker, widowed)
Supporting External Circumstances
Improved living standards. Several seniors attributed their ability and desire to travel to the improvement in living standards of society in general. For example:
Meanwhile, you cannot deny that nowadays people’s living standards have improved and they get higher income than ever before. People want to go out and travel. We didn’t have the chance to travel when we were young because of the limited living conditions. We all had to live a frugal life at that time. (No. 11, 59-year-old female, not retired, accountant)
Personal financial resources. Several seniors related their interest in leisure travel directly to the personal and family affluence. Interestingly, to some the affluence results from the freedom of not supporting their children anymore; to others the affluence comes from the support from their children, as indicated in the comments listed below.
Now the children have grown up and have jobs. We don’t need to take care of them anymore. We have more than 3,000 Yuan per month and we cannot eat much since we are old. (No. 1, 66-year-old male, retired, catering staff)
Now both of them have graduated with graduate degrees...I didn’t have the financial resources at that time since all of my money had been spent on them... We spent almost 10,000 Yuan for our last trip....So we have to be funded by our children to travel. Why should I decline their filial behaviour? (No. 5, 68-year-old female, retired, mechanical engineer)
To some seniors, however, their ability, or inability, to travel was limited by the lack of personal financial resources. For example:
Most of the people earn only around 1,000 Yuan per month and the commodity prices are so high now. You see, we have to be frugal and practical. We can just meet the basic living needs for things like food but not go out to travel and have entertainment. (No. 22, 70-year-old male, retired, mechanical worker)
Time resources. Not all of the interviewed seniors have retired although they have reached the retirement age. Among the 27 seniors, 2 have not retired. Meanwhile, 11 reported that they were engaged in some sort of part-time job or continued to work for their previous companies for a period of time after their retirement arrangement. They feel that they are still capable of working and want to contribute as much as possible.
Their time was also constrained by their commitment to caring for their spouses and families of their children; 5 said that housework prevented them from travelling. In China, some grown-up children still live with their parents. The seniors like to live with their children and are very willing to take care of them even at the expense of their own time. These are reflected in the following comments.
People in our generation lived in difficulty and we have got used to it. Now in order to contribute to the society, although not to the society as a whole, we would like to do our duty for the family. (No. 8, 74-year-old male, retired, gas company)
Originally I planned to participate in the senior tour groups of the Red Setting Sun the year before last year, but I didn’t go because my granddaughter was not in good health that time. She has asthma. My son and daughter-in-law work in the airlines and they are very busy. I really cannot go travelling. If conditions allowed me to travel, however, it would be wonderful! [laughter] (No. 18, 60-year-old female, retired, manufacturing worker)
Health conditions. Even though many seniors perceived leisure travel as a means of improving both physical and mental health, as discussed earlier, poor health is also a condition that inhibits their travel. Some of them were interested in travelling, but as they get older, their interest is dimmed by the inconvenience caused by age and poor health. Health problems prevented 10 of them from travelling. Most of them do not want to take the risk. For example:
I cannot travel because of my health...now I don’t want to travel because my health is not good. Travelling is, of course, a good thing...If I could, I would like to do so. However, there is no way for me now. My daughter’s family often travels, but my health condition does not allow me to do so. (No. 23, 89-year-old male, retired, secretary of workers’ union)
Based on the results reported above, sentiments observed during the interviews and reviewed literature (both in English and Chinese), several observations were made and are discussed here.
China’s phenomenal economic development since the late 1970s has brought about tremendous improvements in living standards for society in general. As the majority of the population has grown out of poverty with basic needs of subsistence met, the pursuit of higher-level needs such as leisure travel becomes possible financially. Progress towards modernity modifies Chinese traditional values such as the virtue of being frugal. However, the effects of both improved living standards and value changes on the seniors’ motivation for leisure travel vary from cohort to cohort.
Respondents in the 55–69 age group tended to be more enthusiastic when expressing their opinions about travel than those who were in their 70s and over; 8 of the 10 interviewees who still travelled were aged 55–70, and only 2 of them were over 70. Those who were above 75 seldom travelled. Cohort effects were observed in studies on seniors in developed economies as well. For example, Moschis (1992) indicated that cohorts of seniors were influenced by different environments, both in their formative years, as well as during their advanced years. However, the cohort effects observed in this study are uniquely Chinese due to the drastic societal transformation in present-day China.
The youngest of the senior respondents in the survey were born in the late 1940s and early 1950s. That would imply that all of them experienced different stages of the Korean War, the Great Leap Forward Movement, the Anti-Rightist Campaign, the three-Year ‘Natural’ Disaster, and the most infamous Cultural Revolution. While the description of each of these historical periods is beyond the scope of this study, it is important to point out that, to most Chinese, these prolonged events were disastrous to the national economy and delayed, if not pulled back, the improvement of living standards for most Chinese.
Those in their late 50s and 60s were recent retirees, who have benefited from the 25 years of the country’s economic reforms. They might have earned more and accumulated more for their retirement than the 70 and over age group. Having directly participated in the country’s economic reforms and open-door policy, they are more receptive to the social and cultural changes. The older group might reveal more profoundly the Chinese traditional value of being frugal. One 74-year-old male identified himself as too conservative to consider leisure travel, while a 70-year-old male simply regarded leisure travel as “entertainment”, and therefore unacceptable. The association of leisure travel with “entertainment” implied a somewhat derogative connotation in the way it was used. A 90-year-old female suggested spending on leisure travel was irresponsible and wasteful.
Sellick (2004) identified a unique senior segment of Australians who travelled for nostalgic reminiscences. Nostalgic seeking as a motivation of senior travellers was also examined in Cleaver et al. (1999). In a study by Szucs et al. (2001) of educational travel programmes in the United States and some European countries, the desire to visit one’s ancestral home was found to motivate participants who stayed at elder hostels. Numerous other studies report the phenomenon of emotional tourism (Jordan, 1997; Smith, 1998) to explain the desires of the American veterans and their relatives to relive past memories by visiting Germany, South Korea and Vietnam. The term “dark tourism” has also been used to describe “travel to a location wholly, or partially, motivated by the desire for actual or symbolic encounters with death” (Seaton, 1996, 1999).
The rich life experiences of the Chinese seniors, albeit mostly bitter, give them a strong motive to travel for nostalgic purpose. Although not necessarily “dark”, it is certainly emotional and they have much to reminisce. Cohort effects are expected, as different age groups of seniors went through different historical events at various stages of their adult life. To most Chinese seniors, visiting their ancestral or birth places can be positively emotional. The Chinese saying of “returning home in glory” is often quoted to describe those who left home humbly in their youth but are returning home wealthy and with achievements. Results of the interviews supported the view that Chinese peolpe have strong emotional attachments to their roots and strong nostalgic desires that motivate their travel.
The two strong phenomena which emerged from the results of the study, cohort effect and nostalgic sentiment, have been reported in previous studies on senior travellers in other countries. However, the unique Chinese historical and culture background gives special meanings to these two phenomena for the interviewees. A casual observation of the themes derived from the data analysis may indicate similarities between the Chinese and Western senior travellers’ motivations and barriers. Some elements of the push and pull motivation model (Crompton, 1979; Dann, 1977, 1981) and social psychological model of tourism motivation (Iso-Ahola, 1982, 1984) surfaced in the concepts identified in the study. However, as discussed at the beginning of this chapter, intergenerational reciprocity and the forms of relaxation and reasons for reward have different meanings for the Chinese and the Western senior travellers. Thus, existing Western-oriented models may not be able to fully represent seniors’ travel motivation in the Chinese setting. A more comprehensive model is needed to incorporate unique cultural aspects such as family support and responsibility, respect for the elders and other important values which may influence seniors’ views and motivations of travel.
This study was undertaken against the backdrop of an increase in the numbers of seniors as a viable segment of China, which itself is experiencing phenomenal growth in both domestic and outbound tourism. Like most senior travellers, the mature mainland Chinese set, today, have the discretionary income and time to travel domestically and with improved health and heightened curiosity, and their frequency of travel has not only increased but become more diversified. Beyond the basic desire to enrich themselves in knowledge of the “outside world” which makes up their pride and joy, these seniors revealed a genuine desire to improve both their physical and mental health and, in the process, aspired to refresh their social links with other members of society to ease their loneliness and relive their youthful experiences.
The results of this study further underscores the need to steer away from an inaccurate and misunderstood stereotype view of mature travellers and to seek a more comprehensive understanding of the heterogeneity and variegations of their travel behaviour so that tourism products and services can be customized to match their special needs. While the findings of this study are by no means representative or conclusive, it rightly opens a thought-provoking window for scholars to progressively understand and appreciate the travel motivation of this steadily growing market segment in mainland China that has hitherto been manifestly ignored.
Future studies on this population are needed to continue the inquiry initiated in this exploratory research. The often-called ‘young–old’ (i.e. those between 55 and 75 years old) (Abdel-Ghany and Sharpe, 1997; Goard and Hardy, 2004; Lago and Poffley, 1993) segment of the Chinese seniors warrants particular attention because, among all seniors, this is the most active travel market and the relatively young age indicates many more years of future travel, which represents great market opportunities for the tourism industry. The proposal of a conceptual model based on existing knowledge of travel motivation and distinctiveness of the Chinese seniors would be a logical next step to provide directions for additional empirical studies.
The authors wish to thank The Hong Kong Polytechnic University for funding this research project (A-PE89).
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