Potential Impacts of Generational Change on Destinations

Over the next decade the older travel market will experience a generational shift as the pre-war generation is replaced by the baby boomer generation. For destinations such as Norfolk Island that have built a substantial market segment based on older tourists this generation shift will have significant implications. While changes will be required in the type of products and experiences offered by the Island's tourism industry the increased size of the baby boomer generation offers considerable scope to increase yield. This paper examines these issues and discusses the need to recognise the importance of the baby boomer tourist as a distinct and separate tourism segment. To illustrate the possible impact of generation change the paper proposes a product gap model.