An Investigation of the Demographic, Psychological, Psychographic, and Behavioral Characteristics of Chinese Senior Leisure Travelers

This study was designed to investigate those variables that would provide a fuller description as well as a segmentation of the views of Chinese senior leisure travelers from the People's Republic of China. The empirical data of this study suggest that Chinese seniors comprise a collection of submarkets based on travel frequency, each with its own characteristics with respect to demographic variables, reasons or motivations for leisure travel, attitudes toward leisure travel, perceived barriers preventing them from taking leisure trips, activities they do during a leisure trip, criteria used to select a travel destination, and the use of the Internet in their travel behavior. The findings of this study provide a foundation for a variety of marketing strategies aimed at the market for Chinese senior leisure travel as well as for cross-cultural comparisons. This study thus makes significant contributions to senior tourism by extending our understanding of senior travel behavior in an important, emerging market; it is also hoped that the study will provoke more discussion on senior leisure travel in developing countries as well as cross-cultural comparisons between developing and developed regions.