On the Problems and Strategies of the Development

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On the Problems and Strategies of the Develop-ment of the Elderly Tourism Market in China Wenting XIA
Nanjing Institute of Tourism & Hospitality
Abstract: with the rapid development of social economy and the improvement of people ’s living standards, the elderly tourism market occupies a larger and larger proportion in China ’s tourism market, which greatly promotes the development of China's tourism industry. China ’s tourism industry ushered in a period of rapid de-velopment in the 1990s, but there were still vacancies in the elderly market at that time. In the process of the continuous optimization of the living standards of the elderly, this market has gradually grown up, and has spurred the development of a number of industries. However, although the current situation of the elderly tourism market in China is good, and the corresponding service system is constantly im-proving, there are still many inevitable loopholes in the elderly tourism market, which restricts the further development of the elderly tourism market. Therefore,
this paper will start from the development of the elderly tourism market, to explore the problems in its development, and put forward targeted optimization measures, in order to promote the sound and sustainable development of the elderly tourism market in China.
Key words: Elderly tourism market; Development problems; Solution strategy; Exploration
1. Introduction
n recent years, with the continuous improvement of people ’s living standards, the elderly tourism demand has gradually increased, and then formed a systematic elderly tourism market. The emergence of the elderly tourism market not only ef-fectively solves the problem of the elderly tourism, but also greatly promotes the
About the author: Wenting XIA, (1985-7), Female, Han, Nanjing, Lecture, Master, hotel management, hotel marketing.
Funded project: Jiangsu Province University Philosophy and Social Sciences Research Project “Research on Tourism Perceived Value of Elderly Tourists in the Context of Inter-net ” (2016SJB630065).
I All Rights Reserved.
On the Problems and Strategies of the Development of the Elderly Tourism Market in China development of China’s tourism industry and national economic development. The
increase of the elderly population makes the elderly tourism market seem to have
considerable development prospects, but in reality, the elderly tourism market actu-
ally presents a “two high and one low” development trend, that is, high risk, high
cost and low profit. This is because the elderly body function, quality and so on are
inferior to young people, it is easy to have accidents in the process of tourism,
which requires the provision of specialized medical personnel to protect the per-
sonal safety of the elderly. Therefore, how to solve the problems in the develop-
ment of the elderly tourism market, establish a more perfect tourism service system,
and develop the elderly tourism market scientifically and correctly has become the
focus of the current social development.
2. Current Situation of China’s Elderly Tourism Market
Since the reform and opening up, China’s economy has shown a good mo-mentum of development. On this basis, China’s medical treatment and people’s
living standards have been greatly improved, and the life span of the elderly has
also been extended to a certain extent. Therefore, the number of elderly groups has
increased year by year, and the proportion in the total population of China is also All Rights Reserved.
growing. The elderly tourism market is also developed on the basis of the above
conditions. This market positions its customers as the elderly over 65 years old
with economic income and time, provides them with thoughtful tourism services
and leads them to enjoy the natural scenery. Obviously, this is an emerging tourism
market. Because the development of young people’s tourism market is very slow
before the development of China’s economy, let alone the old people’s tourism
market, but it is undeniable that it is a market with great development potential un-
der the social background of high-speed economic development. There are three
main factors to intensify this market. First, the elderly have enough time. Secondly,
because of their own savings or national policy care and pension security system,
most of the elderly have an economic foundation, otherwise their children will also
give financial support to their parents to report to the tourist group, and there are
many examples of filial piety to their parents. Finally, the elderly have a strong
demand for tourism. After a lifetime of no work or blind busy, the elderly are eager
to contact with new things through tourism, to enjoy life and integrate themselves
into society faster.
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Creativity and Innovation Vol.3 No.2 2019
3. Problems Existing in the Development of China's Elderly
Tourism Market
Although the development potential of China’s elderly tourism market is great, it is still not fully mature, due to the late emergence of the market. Therefore, based
on the current development situation, we can find that the elderly tourism market
mainly has the following problems:
(1) Single type of tourism products
In the social context of the growing number of elderly groups, the demand of the elderly for tourism also shows a trend of diversification, especially in the case
of obvious differences in the consumption of the elderly, some economically
well-off elderly people are no longer satisfied with simple domestic team tourism,
they prefer to have overseas tourism, thematic tourism and other tourism products
for them to choose freely, in order to meet their personalized tourism needs. How-
ever, the main product design in the current elderly tourism market, still focused on
the same and stereotyped group tourism, without in-depth understanding of the
tourism needs of the elderly, and designing the tourism products suitable for the
elderly based on their needs. Even some tourism organizations that change the
concept, change the name or readvertise the general tourism group, and package it All Rights Reserved.
as a “new” silver hair group , cheating elderly consumers.
(2) Poor quality of tourism service personnel
Due to the different service groups, the elderly tourism market is different from the general tourism market. Therefore, when providing services, it must con-
form to the characteristics of the elderly, starting from the needs of the elderly, to
provide them with thoughtful services, so as to ensure the sustainable development
of the elderly tourism market. However, in the actual development process, there
are not many guides who can really serve the elderly, most of them have not re-
ceived professional training, and they can not consider and meet the needs of the
elderly, which has caused the antipathy and resistance of the elderly, and seriously
affected the good development of the elderly tourism market. For example, for old-
er clients who are highly literate and interested in the history of historic sites, the
tour guide should make full preparation in advance, understand the relevant history
of the sites in detail, and explain it in a humorous way, so as to meet the tourism
needs of these customers, rather than rough and random prevarication. As for the
general physical quality, they can’t keep up with the accompanying team of cus-
tomers, the tour guide should also consider their bodies, adjust their travel plans in
time, and try to provide customers with thoughtful services from the comfort level
of customers, so that they can experience the fun of tourism. All these problems
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On the Problems and Strategies of the Development of the Elderly Tourism Market in China need to be changed from the aspects of improving the quality of tourism service
personnel.
(3) Low dividends in tourism industry
Due to the influence of the elderly’s body, consumption concept and other factors, the dividend of the elderly tourism market is not high. First of all, the
physical quality of the elderly is low, and it is easy to have accidents in the
long-term travel process, so it is necessary to equip the tour groups with profes-
sional medical personnel, which is a hidden expenditure. Secondly, most of the old
people keep the good habit of thrift because of their conservative ideas, so they will
be deterred from the high price tourism products, hoping to be more economical
and affordable.
4. Strategies for Optimizing the Development of China’s El-
derly Tourism Market
(1) Creating diversified tourism products to meet the personalized needs of
the elderly
Due to the large number and diverse needs of the elderly, the elderly tourism
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market should first solve the problem of single tourism products, enrich the types
of tourism products, create diversified tourism products, and try to meet the tourism
needs of the elderly. In order to create multi-type tourism products, we should start
with the following three points: First, the elderly tourism market should first make
a deep research on the tourism purpose and demand of the elderly, deeply grasp the
tourism characteristics of the elderly, and create the market characteristics of “el-
derly tourism”. Second, it is necessary to build professional travel agencies and es-
tablish special tourism service areas for the elderly, for the elderly, to provide spe-
cial tourism products according to the life content of the elderly, such as wind and
light tourism, ecological tourism, farmhouse tourism, holiday tourism, etc. Thirdly,
it is necessary to innovate tourism products continuously, improve and update the
tourism mode in line with the changes of tourism demand of the elderly, and avoid
being unchangeable, so as to promote the development of the elderly tourism mar-
ket.
(2) Cultivating professional tourism service personnel to provide high-qua-
lity services for elderly tourism customers
The service quality of tourism service personnel is directly related to the tour-ism experience of the elderly, and then affects the sustainable development of the
elderly tourism market. Therefore, the elderly tourism market managers should
start from the training of professional tourism service personnel, strive to provide
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Creativity and Innovation Vol.3 No.2 2019
high-quality and thoughtful services for elderly tourism customers, so that they can
feel the pleasure of tourism, thus actively participate in tourism, set off a tourism
boom for the elderly, and then promote the progress of tourism market. The training
of professional tourism service personnel can start from the following aspects. First
of all, we can add the learning module of special tourism service for the elderly in
the professional training of guide, strengthen theoretical study, optimize practical
exercises, and constantly improve the consciousness and ability of special tourism
service of tour guides. Secondly, tourism organizations should adopt the service
needs of elderly tourism customers widely, and train relevant guides according to
this, so that their service ability can meet the needs of elderly tourism customers,
and attract more elderly customers to participate in tourism. Finally, we should
formulate reasonable rules and regulations for tour guides. if there are tour guides
in violation of the rules and regulations, we should deal with them as appropriate,
so as to curb the bad atmosphere of tour guides and improve their professional
quality.
(3) Improving tourism organization and providing high-quality tourism
products
Because of the physical fitness of the elderly, the price setting of tourism or-All Rights Reserved.
ganizations will be relatively high, but this is precisely the most important condi-
tion for the elderly tourism. Therefore, tourism agencies should constantly improve
their own development system, improve the quality of tourism products, and make
full use of the resource advantages of the elderly. For example, some scenic spots
can be exempted from tickets by the elderly card, avoid the golden time of tourism,
and reduce tourism, and on this basis, we can optimize the price of tourism prod-
ucts, not only provide good tourism services for the elderly, but also obtain eco-
nomic benefits, so as to promote the sustainable development of the elderly tourism
market.
5. Conclusion
To sum up, with the increasing number of elderly population and their strong demand for tourism, the elderly tourism market shows great development potential.
Therefore, the tourism market should pay attention to the rational development of
the elderly tourism market, in order to achieve the dual goals of meeting the elderly
life and promoting the sustainable development of the tourism industry.
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On the Problems and Strategies of the Development of the Elderly Tourism Market in China
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