baby boomer travel trends
The Carnival Freedom will carry baby boomer singles to the eastern Caribbean in November 2013. Photo from Carnival.
Here’s a niche within a niche: a cruise not just for baby boomers, but for single baby boomers.
It makes sense, because while lots of cruises are filled with boomers, cruises — ever popular with couples, families and even groups of friends — can be difficult for single travelers.
Where does a single traveler sit at dinner? Where does a single traveler find a dance partner? Where does a single traveler find someone to just hang out with?
The problem may even be greater for travelers over 50.
To meet this need, Singles Cruise is sponsoring an eight-night “Baby Boomers Caribbean Adventure Singles Cruise” for singles born between 1946 and 1964, embarking November 16 from Ft. Lauderdale, Florida, aboard the Carnival Freedom.
The eastern Caribbean cruise will call at the islands of… Continue reading
In a previous post I wrote about “gramping” — grandparents camping with grandkids (but cheating a bit by bedding down in a lodge) — a name coined by an inn in Ohio.
A king-sized bed lures baby boomers in one of the “glamping” tents at the River Dance Lodge. Photo from River Dance Lodge.
Now comes “glamping” — a term that’s catching on as a clever contraction for “glamorous camping,” a combo that doesn’t always spring immediately to mind.
Glamping seems tailor-made for baby boomers, who may love the great outdoors but also tend to favor somewhat softer accommodations than, well, hard ground dotted with annoying pebbles.
Glamping, however, involves (at a minimum) tents with real beds inside — what’s not to like?
“Glamping” has been around for a while, though perhaps not by that name. The English used to go on African safaris in tents that… Continue reading
Starwood Hotels CEO Frits van Paasschen.
Starwood Hotels and Resorts CEO Frits van Paasschen, regarded as a visionary in the industry, has a fascinating take on what travelers will soon expect from their chosen lodgings (as recounted in this piece by Greg Oates in Skift.com).
“Today,” he recently told the hotel group’s annual sales pow wow in New Orleans, “a hotel brand can’t stand apart just by having a comfortable, reliable, clean room…that expectation today, driven by technology, is personalization.”
Van Paasschen gives the examples of Amazon.com and Facebook, who not only seem to know everything about their customers and users, they do know what their customers and users are looking for and like. (After all, we give them the information, and they know how to mine the data.)
“So how long will it be,” he asks, “before all of us expect a hotel brand where we spend… Continue reading
Jester the Weimaraner puppy and Instagram marketer overlooks the Queensland coast. Photo from Brisbane Times
From time to time I like to call attention to tourism bureaus and marketers using creative visuals to reach potential visitors.
A recent example is Bushmills in Northern Ireland painting faux people and animals on abandoned houses and shops to make it appear the town is more prosperous than it actually is. And with tourism increasing, it seems to be working.
Now Tourism Queensland (Australia) is using a six-month-old Weimaraner puppy named Jester to spearhead a new Instagram campaign intended to depict what life is like for typical Queenslanders.
Queensland residents are encouraged to send in their photos for Jester to post on Instagram between September 9 and 15. (Lacking opposable thumbs, Jester will be aided in this endeavor by regional photographer and a park ranger, but he will apparently be barking out his… Continue reading
I’ve long had an ambivalent feeling toward the reviews on TripAdvisor, the extremely successful user-driven website that provides readers’ takes on everything from hotels and restaurants to museums and travel activities.
TripAdvisor rules that newly renovated hotels should get a clean slate on reviews.
Like many baby boomers, I find the reviews can be extremely helpful in sorting out the travel-related chaff from the wheat — a long as I can first sort out the chaff from the wheat of the reviews themselves.
It’s not uncommon to come across restaurant reviews, for instance, that are the diametric opposites of each other:
“Ate at Luigi’s last night, and it was the greatest meal I’ve ever had — maybe the best that anyone has ever had! Love those meatballs!”
And, right below it: “Don’t listen to anyone who likes Luigi’s — this place is the worst! Worst food, worst service, and… Continue reading
One of the big developments in cruising in the past few years is the rapid rise of river cruising, which has a big marketing advantage over ocean cruising among a certain segment of the population: namely, those who don’t like the idea of being out in the ocean on a big ship.
Emerald Waterways features an innovative “indoor balcony” in some cabins. Photo from Emerald Waterways.
Whether it’s fear of open water, fear of getting seasick, fear of overcrowding, or fear of being on a big ship if a crisis strikes at sea — such as some of the highly publicized events of the past year or two — a number of people just won’t consider taking a traditional ocean cruise. (No matter how much I or many other cruising advocates try to convince them otherwise.)
River cruising, on the other hand, enables you to stay close to land on… Continue reading
We had out-of-town guests over the weekend, and one recurring topic of conversation was how much we all like shopping at Costco.
Costco draws baby boomer travelers and other customers primarily through word-of-mouth advertising
For instance, when they mentioned they needed new luggage for an upcoming cruise, I suggested looking at Costco, because that’s where we’ve been buying luggage for years — great quality at half the price or less. They quickly agreed to check it out.
While I wasn’t getting a commission (and am not for anything I write here today), that was a classic example of word-of-mouth advertising. And it didn’t cost Costco a cent.
Then today I came upon this fascinating piece in The Huffington Post about “Ten Cult Brands So Popular They Don’t Need to Advertise.”
One of them is Costco.
According to Jillian Berman, who wrote the piece, Costco does use social media to reach… Continue reading
Jeff Bezos of amazon.com has committed $250 million to buying The Washington Post
The recent news that Amazon founder Jeff Bezos is buying The Washington Post left a lot of people scratching their heads.
Why would one of the most successful leaders of online commerce invest in a “dying” industry like newspapers?
There’s a short answer to this: to paraphrase Mark Twain, the death of newspapers has been greatly exaggerated.
I don’t say this just as someone who has written travel pieces for a good number of newspapers over the years — including The Washington Post — and to some extent still do. Or as someone who cut his journalistic teeth in newsrooms from Ann Arbor to Long Island to Miami. Or as someone who still reads newspapers myself.
I also acknowledge that much of my current work is done in the digital realm, including this blog.
But then, much… Continue reading
Will boomers stop traveling to courses like Turnberry in Scotland? Unlikely.
An old friend who I used to play golf with in school sent me a newsletter item from the National Golf Foundation (NGF) that questioned whether or not baby boomers would go bust in retirement — and, as one result, not be able to afford to play golf as much as retirees usually do.
According to the NGF, about 10 percent of boomers (aged 49 to 67) play golf, about one-third of all golfers in the U.S.
Typically, the NGF notes, retirees play more and more golf the older they get, until they’re too elderly to swing a club anymore. And the fact that boomer retirees 65+ will almost double the number of current retirees — there being 76 million of us, after all — means that golf should be looking at a, well, green future for the next… Continue reading
Marinas like this one in Mallorca, Spain, may provide baby boomer renters with chances to go for a spin. Photo by Clark Norton
For several years now we’ve been able to share cars and bicycles (especially in cities) — enabling people who don’t actually own a car or bike to rent or use one for part of a day — and now we’ve entered the era of boat sharing.
We’re talking everything from kayaks to catamarans to fully crewed yachts, in more than 60 countries around the world.
This is one of those great ideas I wonder why I didn’t think of it myself. The folks at GetMyBoat did — they launched their service in March — and more power to them.
Some 92 percent of boats are sitting idle in marinas around the world at any one time; why not create a system so others can rent them… Continue reading
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