A Lack of Tourism-Based Health Services Amid Global Aging: How Tourism and Health Practices Can Combine to Benefit the Aging Population

Dear Editor

The world’s population is facing an era of aging, accompanied by health issues such as hearing impairment, chronic obstructive pulmonary disease, diabetes, and mental disorders (e.g., dementia) among the elderly. ¹ Progressive global aging has complicated the public health landscape. Traditional indicators of population aging, like longevity, no longer capture the true state of public health. Instead, the focus has shifted towards tracking age-related diseases to more accurately depict population aging. ² The concept of healthy aging has arisen in response to the assumption that elderly individuals are weak, dependent, and a burden on society—particularly those who have health conditions. ¹ The healthy aging movement seeks to cultivate environments and opportunities that empower older individuals to pursue meaning throughout their lives. ³ Healthy aging recognizes numerous fundamental principles in geriatrics, including culture, functionality, involvement, resilience, significance, dignity, and autonomy, while striving to minimize the impact of disease. ⁴ Considering the multifaceted definition of healthy aging, certain industries (e.g., tourism) may have a role to play in offering cost-effective ways for the elderly to improve their quality of life through positive emotions, nutrition, social participation, and physical activity. ⁵ Pressing questions stand to be answered: What is the status quo of tourism-based health services around the world? Can these services adequately facilitate global aging? This letter calls for collaborations among tourism practitioners, healthcare professionals, policymakers, and other stakeholders in fusing tourism and health services to promote healthy aging worldwide.

Human health conditions are inherently complex, as diseases require unique interventions. This letter takes people with dementia as a representative demographic for aging populations in light of recent revelations in the journal Science. The study’s senior author ⁶ admitted to manipulating data in research that linked a specific form of amyloid protein to memory loss. This study, which was published 18 years ago in Nature, has been emblematic in understanding Alzheimer’s disease. The implications of this scandal are accordingly far-reaching, affecting both the academic community and society as a whole. The alleged fraud may have led to nearly two decades of misguided Alzheimer’s studies, wasted billions of dollars in funding, and exacerbated the already challenging state of Alzheimer’s research. ⁷ Given that dementia is currently incurable, and that pharmacological treatments come with limited benefits and significant side effects, more cost-effective non-pharmacological interventions have been proposed as first-line treatments for dementia. Such suggestions have even appeared in surprising contexts (i.e., travel therapy). Tourism, as one of the world’s largest industries, has begun to be investigated for its potential to yield health-related benefits for the general public as well as for vulnerable populations (i.e., individuals with health conditions). For example, researchers have argued that people with early-stage dementia may benefit from positive tourism experiences. ⁸ Yet despite gradual changes in countries such as Australia and the United Kingdom, where guidelines for dementia-friendly travel are being published under professional advisement, dementia-friendly tourism destinations and related services are limited. A recent study reported that some people with dementia even attempt to hide their cognitive medical history to avoid discrimination while traveling; they also have low expectations of medical support and often distrust medical facilities at tourism destinations. ⁹ As the world is aging and trying to enhance older populations’ well-being, certain countries (e.g., China) are taking steps to become top destinations for senior tourism. ¹⁰ Tourism-based health services should continue to be revamped to better support aging populations with health conditions. This letter is meant to encourage interdisciplinary research to address global health service deficiencies, including in tourism. Joint efforts could help ease the weight of global aging while enhancing public health.