Perceived Safety as an Important Quality Dimension among Senior Tourists

Abstract

The discussion of competitive edge in companies is often based on issues of quality and loyalty. Senior tourists are mostly very loyal to tourism companies provided that high-quality services are offered. Perceived quality is the result of a cognitive elaboration, including a comparison of individual needs and wants with the product offered by the company. Ageing takes place in three dimensions – physiological, sociological and cognitive – changing the consumer requirements that the tourism industry has to meet. Safety is the quality dimension analysed in this paper and age-related personal safety (ARPS) is distinguished from general personal safety (GPS). The results from quasi-structured interviews carried out in Finland among senior tourists show that perceived safety is an important factor in their decision making and that the perceived importance of this factor increases as the tourist grows older.