The spiritual benefits of travel for senior tourists

摘要

This research explores the spiritual benefits of travel for older adults and illustrates how travel meets seniors' self-actualization and spiritual growth needs. The theoretical point of departure for this research is seniors' quest for meaning and self-actualization, which act as push factors inducing older adults to travel. Semistructured depth interviews were conducted with 16 retired senior informants who had extensive travel experience. Using an interpretive method, this research reveals four key themes that illustrate the spiritual benefits of travel, thereby extending the growing literature on the motivations of senior travelers. These themes are described as "traveling generates meaning for older adults," "traveling reveals the self to older adults," "traveling encourages older adults to better understand others," and "traveling enables older adults to better understand their relationship to nature". In sum, the themes describe how older adults may meet their unique spiritual needs through travel and thereby enhance their spiritual development. This research represents one of a few studies examining senior tourism to employ an interpretive method and provides rich insights as a result. This research also extends the emerging research on spirituality in marketing by illustrating how the tourism industry may benefit from a perspective that considers the spiritual benefits of consumption. The research findings suggest that the intangible spiritual benefits of travel, in addition to the tangible benefits, should be highlighted in travel offers and tourism communications targeted to older adults.