Derivation of Tourism Activity Ability and Study of Travel Promotion Effects for Elderly People.

The population of elderly people aged 70 and over is expected to continue to increase until around the year 2048 in Japan, and this population group is considered to be important for the domestic travel market. However, the number of overnight trips of the elderly is lower than the average. For the elderly to go on sightseeing trips without anxiety contributes to improving their well-being. The authors are carrying out research on travel promotion by deriving tourism activity ability. We define it as “the ability to enjoy sightseeing without being tired the next day at the destination”. In this study, a sightseeing tour was conducted with 17 elderly people aged 65 and over as subjects. Principal component analysis was performed on the data measured as objective and subjective indices, and tourism activity ability was derived. A heart rate sensor was used as one of the objective indices. In addition, we conducted a questionnaire survey on changes in awareness of tourism by knowing one’s own tourism activity ability. Although the results of the survey showed almost no statistically significant difference, the results indicated that targeting elderly people with health concerns may promote tourism trips. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]