Significant changes are taking place in the structure of tourism participants. Due to the ageing of societies, the tourism sector has to respond to the increasing tourist activity of seniors. The main aim of our research was the recognition of the needs of senior tourists from selected regions of Poland, considering their health and financial situation as well as their physical activity. The study shows how to combine the knowledge of assumptions of active ageing with the actual views of senior tourists on tourism and active leisure. An additional objective was to determine the reasons why seniors gave up tourism and to compare the reasons why seniors from selected regions of Poland and seniors from other European countries did not participate in tourism. Based on Eurostat data, we identify the most common reasons for people not participating in tourism who are over 65 years of age. In 2020, we surveyed seniors. The respondents for the sample were selected as 65 years and older. In order to compare countries due to exclusion and non-participation of seniors in tourism, the results classification was used. To analyse the touristic behaviours of Polish seniors, we used correspondence analysis. As indicated by analysing the reasons for the non-participation of Europeans aged 65 and over in tourism, in most countries, financial and health reasons are ranked first or second in 2016 and 2019. In a survey of Polish seniors, except for the financial reasons responsible for non-participation in tourism, an additional obstacle was the language barrier in foreign tourism. The analysis of physical and tourist activity showed that non-participation in tourism is associated with low physical activity. Women reported that they were satisfied with their financial independence and most often used the opportunity of short-term tourism. The people who are fully or largely involved in organising their trips also willingly change their locations during their next travels.

The study is directed towards the growing importance of active ageing (AA). Active ageing is a concept proposed in 1990 to recognise not only factors related to health care but also other factors influencing the ageing of individuals and populations. In the following years, as the needs of the ageing societies and the possibilities of meeting these needs increased, Healthy Ageing was defined. Active ageing is one of the areas of care for older people in the Decade for Healthy Ageing. In the study, we referred to the pillars of the AA strategy and the active ageing index (AAI) guidelines. Research on active ageing is gaining momentum in conjunction with pursuing the Sustainable Development Goals (SDG 2030 Agenda), especially in social inclusion. The aim of our study was to compare EU countries in terms of seniors’ subjective assessment of AA-related activities and to check whether the similarities and differences in the ratings of seniors from different countries changed in 2020 compared to 2018. As we did not want seniors to participate in a survey directly focused on AA, we chose the European Social Survey database (ESS is a cross-national, representative survey conducted every two years across Europe since 2001), ensuring that the sample was representative. We used questions not directly related to AA. We conducted the analysis by gender and two age groups (65–74 and 75+). In the analysis, we used Kaufman–Rousseeuw normalisation and Ward’s method for clustering. Our analysis resulted in four classifications in each study run. We identified groups of countries where respondents’ assessments are similar. In addition, we identified recurring patterns of behaviour corresponding to AA.

Research background: Tourism is one of the fastest-growing sectors of the economy, thus the implementation of sustainable solutions in tourism ought to be a worldwide adopted requirement. Tourists should seek to pursue sustainable development goals during their travels. Given the aging population, it is important to encourage seniors to practice sustainable tourism and tailor offerings to their needs. Purpose of the article: Our study aims to identify the readiness of seniors within the European Union to travel in line with the sustainable development goals. Methods: Representative data from Flash Eurobarometer 499 were used in the study presented in the article. Correspondence analysis, which is a multidimensional statistical method that facilitates the search for relationships between multiple characteristics of respondents, was used in the course of our study. Findings & value added: We conclude that the offer of future tourist solutions must be diverse, because the perception of tourism is very different among seniors with varying ages, genders, levels of education, and places of residence. Only small groups of seniors are not ready to adopt sustainable tourism, but many European tourists intend to continue using sustainable solutions and introduce new ones into their tourism. The greatest determination to apply sustainable solutions was observed among German seniors, especially in the use of green transportation.

The increasing number of elderly tourists requires adapting tourism services to address their specific health and comfort needs, which presents a new challenge for the industry. The aim of this study is to check the readiness of the tourism sector for demographic changes, to identify the characteristics of seniors that should be taken into account when constructing tourist offers, and to learn about the reasons for non-participation in tourism by different age groups. The study used data from a survey conducted among Polish companies from the tourism sector and data from Statistics Poland regarding the travelling habits of Polish people. Correspondence analysis and Sequence, Association and Link Analysis (SAL) were used. The surveyed companies from the tourism sector have noticed demographic changes related to the ageing of the population and are actively responding to these changes. The most important factors influencing the construction of offers for seniors are health and mobility issues and problems with modern technology. Seniors give up tourism mainly because they prefer to stay at home followed by health or mobility issues.

Three interconnected and mutually supporting priority areas of “Europe 2020”, which will continue as priorities until 2030, constitute the idea of sustainable development based on three pillars—economic, environmental and social. The third pillar, related to social inclusion, aims to protect the interests of various social groups, including the growing group of elderly individuals. In this context, the activity of seniors becomes one of the key elements of sustainable development. For many years, it has been advocated that seniors have to be active, not only in terms of their physical activity, but also in terms of the so-called digital/technological inclusion or exclusion. This article attempts to answer the question of whether seniors’ activity in various areas of life (for example, taking into account the components of the Active Aging Index) can translate into a better assessment of their lives. We compare the activity of Polish seniors with their peers from EU countries. By identifying the differences, we try to pinpoint the causes of inactivity and indicate the areas of action necessary to stimulate their activity. Pointing out the disadvantages of the AAI’s construction, which are related to the cultural schemes, traditions, and social conditions of EU countries, we propose an original active aging indicator, which was created using Hellwig’s method and which is based on the results of a pilot study conducted with Polish seniors in 2020. The values of both indicators (AAI and the original) were also used to examine the impact of seniors’ activity on their general life satisfaction. In this part of the study, we used a comparative analysis and a classification method.

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