Families with children

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Families with children seniors as tourism
segments

• Tourism Market Market Communication
• 06. 10. 2008 / AT

2
Content

• Children as consumers
• Childrens parents wants on holidays
• distribution of need fulfilment
• Holiday decision-making in families
• negotiation families
• role distribution
• Seniors as tourism segment
• experienced vs. chronological age
• Comparison of families w. children seniors
• practical implications

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Children as consumers

• Change in perception of children
• from innocent, unknowing objects, without
  influence
• to knowledgeable, rich, influencial actors
• Three consumer roles
• direct buyers with own means
• influencers on parents purchase (e.g. holidays)
• future customers
• Influencers - indirect (0-5) direct (6-12)
• Pester power
• vicarious enjoyment (Johns Gyimothy 2002,
  Lindstrøm 2003)
• Bad conscience-factor (McNeal,1999)

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Childrens wants during holidays?

• Sun, beach, warm water
• Communication with other children
• Many activities (self-organised organised)
• The right mix of activities and relaxation
• (Den tyske udfordring, 2000)
• Home sun, but difference from the familiar is
  best remembered (Cullingford, 1995)
• Fun cool not childish activities, shopping,
  active participation not traditional sightseeing
  (Nickerson Jurowki 2001)

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Parents wants during holidays?

• Common experiences reconnect as a family
  (Nickerson Jurowski 2001, Gram Therkelsen
  2003)
• Togetherness with room for individual activities
  (Gram Therkelsen 2003)
• A good atmosphere (ibid.)
• Relaxation rest (ibid.)
• Having fun both children and parents (Johns
  Gyimothy 2002)
• Nostalgia that children learn (ibid.)
• Safety value for money important

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Distribution of childrens parents needs on
holiday

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• Childrens needs 0-4 years
  5-10 years 11 years -
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• Parents needs
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Absorption
Entertainment
Educational
Active Participation
Passive Participation
Escapist
Esthetic
Children
Parents
Shared experiences
Immersion
Non-events
Parents
(Gram 2005 p.19)
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The road to negotiation families
Development in perception of children
Development in family decision-making
The child as ignorant passive
Father-dominated decision-making
The child as well-informed active
Split decision-making - product specific
Negotiation families
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Source Gartner (1993) pp.194-195.  
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Role distribution in families in relation to
decision-making
The husband has also lost influence in all
stages of decisions regarding vacations, while
the wife has gained substantial influence in
all of these decision-making stages (Belch
Willis 2002, p.120).
(Brassington Pettitt, 2003 p.126)
within households women may be the gatekeepers
to the tourism product (Mottiar Quinn 2004 p.
158)
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Critical noteRole distribution in families

• information is collected by many people
  all through the year (Decrop Snelders 2004,
  p.1024).
• Data shows
• continual info-collection on-going evaluation
  of options --- increasing intensity
• children also initiators and info-seekers
• mainly in relation to concrete activities
• children also decision-makers within delimited
  choices
• main holiday vs. short breaks

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International trends

• 50 age group is growing
• many are wealthy
• many are well-educated
• they live for longer
• many are well-established, the kids are gone
  money for experiences
• many are conscious about quality and used to
  spending money
• many have a different attitude to consumption
  than the war generation (havent experienced
  poverty, not worn-out)

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Seniors as tourism segment (cont.)

• Disagreement on who are seniors
• Not a homogeneous group age segmentation not
  enough
• Littrell et al (2004)
• active outdoor/cultural tourists
• cultural tourists
• moderate tourists
• Seniors both influenced by their generation
  lifestyle/interests (Gram 2005)

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Experienced vs. chronological age

• elderly people act much younger than their age
  would suggest (Lazer 1985)
• most rate their health as good to excellent and
  feel 10-15 years younger than they are (Hanson
  1987)
• age is not very central in defining who older
  people think they are. Younger people tend to
  have a more defined idea about what old age is
  like than older people do (Bradley Longino
  2001)

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Curiosity Trigger
Mature couples The two of us, alone
Families with children Together, apart
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We-identity in practise

• Uffe what we seek during the holiday Sun, sun,
  sun. When we go on holiday with our friends we
  sometimes get to a place where there is something
  to see. Then they are all excited What did you
  go and see? then we say we didnt see
  anything. They have been out seeing old volcanos
  and something else and third. They are tired when
  they get home whereas we are well-rested. We have
  been doing nothing but washing ourselves, going
  to the pool or the beach and going out for a meal
  in the evening

• Leif if you look in a travel brochure from
  Star Tours then they always have something that
  is characteristic of that country or that island,
  and it is that which everybody goes to visit. I
  never do that. We never participate in bus trips
  and things like that. We find it ourselves. We
  always buy a book about an island, if we are
  going on holiday on a island or an area or a
  region, and then we find out whether there is
  something exciting there which could be explored
  a bit.

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Summarizing Findings

• Frequent usage of collective we
• The two of us, alone --- one unit
• No quarrels or discussions during interview
• Using others to identify / differentiate us
  with/from
• Individual interests, if appearing, disguised as
  common good
• New life situation (empty nester / retired) plays
  a role

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Further readings

• Belch M.A., Willis L.A. (2002). Family decision
  at the turn of the century Has the changing
  structure of households impacted the family
  decision-making process? Journal of Consumer
  Behaviour. 2. 2. pp.111-124.
• Lee, C.K.C., Collins B.A. (2000). Family decision
  making and coalition patterns. European Journal
  of Marketing. 34. 9/10. pp.1181-1198.
• Mottiar Z., Quinn D. (2004). Couple dynamics in
  household tourism decision making Women as the
  gatekeepers? Journal of Vacation Marketing. 10.
  2. pp.149-160.
• Thorton et al. (1997). Tourist group holiday
  decision-making and behaviour the influence of
  children, Tourism Management, 8 (5) 287-297.