EcoSmart Energy and Health Care Promotion in Senior Tourism
Keywords:
senior tourism, eco-smart energy, health care, sustainable developmentAbstract
Recent studies show that seniors will soon become one of the major prospective segments in hospitality and travel industry. Given that population aged 65+ is usually retired with pensions, they have leisure time for travelling at any time of the year. They are also the most demanding expecting services excellence and high-level security while at the same time 63% of seniors aged 65-74 reported some sort of chronic illness. Hence, energy-efficient and health-focused facilities can be a significant potential for tourism development in Sarajevo region, which is a popular destination considering its unique nature, rich gastronomic, cultural and historical heritage. However, currently there is no market segmentation tailored to specific needs of senior tourists and research aims to explore opportunities and potential for this type of services with the objective of introducing accommodation facilities for elderly based on eco-smart solutions with highlighted focus on well-being and health. Setting of still water machines and installation of renewable energy system for electricity, ventilation and heat can have various positive effects increasing security, providing more healthy conditions, influencing life expectancy and counteracting the aging. Thus, research goal is creating feasibility study on eco-smart and health-focused facility for senior tourists in Sarajevo region using strategic management tools as a methodology instruments, including application of PEST concept, determining industry development phase as well as evaluating its structure, attractiveness and profitability via five forces of Porter model. Recommendations for future studies as well as practical implications for appropriate business actions are given in the conclusion relating to senior tourism development in Sarajevo region.
This work is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial 4.0 International License.
References
Alén, E., Domínguez, T., Losada, N. (2012), “New Opportunities for the Tourism Market: Senior Tourism and Accessible Tourism”, available at: http://cdn.intechopen.com/pdfs-wm/35523.pdf (accessed July 1st 2015).
Anderson, J. (2007), “Climate change-induced water stress and its impact on natural and managed ecosystems”, Report, European Parliament, IP/A/CLIM/ST/2007.06.
Bidzan, A., Gekic, H. (2015), “Regional aspect of tourism development in Bosnia and Herzegovina”, International Journal of Innovation and Applied Studies, Vol. 11 No. 4, pp. 886-893.
Blanke, J., Chiesa, T. (2013), “The travel & tourism competitiveness report 2013”, Geneva: The World Economic Forum.
Evans, G.W. (2001), “Environmental stress and health”, in Handbook of Health Psychology, edited by A. Baum, T. Revenson, and J. E. Singer, Erlbaum, Mahwah, NJ.
Frosch, D.L., Rincon, D., Ochoa, S., Mangione, C.M. (2010), “Activating seniors to improve chronic disease care: results from a pilot intervention study”, Journal of the American Geriatrics Society, Vol. 58 No. 8, pp. 1496-503.
Gupta, A. (2013), “Environment & PEST analysis: An approach to external business environment”, International Journal of Modern Social Sciences, Vol. 2 No. 1, pp. 34-43.
Hadiani, Z., Ahadnezhad, M., Kazemizad, S. , Ghanbari, H. (2011), “Strategic planning for tourism development by SWOT method (Case study: Shiraz City)”, Geography and Environmental Planning Journal, Vol. 47 No. 3, pp. 29-32.
Kaplan, R. & Kaplan, S. (1989), “The experience of nature: A psychological perspective”, New York: Cambridge University Press.
Kozic, E. & Papaz, V. (2014), “First release of Annual Report 2013”, Agency for Statistics of the Bosnia and Herzegovina.
Littrell, M.A., Paige, R.C., Song, K. (2013), “Senior travelers: Tourism activities and shopping behaviors”, Journal of Vacation Marketing, Vol. 1, pp. 348-362.
Nedelea, A., State, M. (2011), “The demographic aging and consumer market”, ESS, Annals of the University of Oradea, pp. 1008-1012.
Nimrod, G., Rotem, A. (2010), “Between relaxation and excitement: activities and benefits gained in retirees’ tourism”, International Journal of Tourism, Vol. 12, pp. 65-78.
Ozlen, M. K., Poturak, M. (2013), “Tourism in Bosnia and Herzegovina”, Global Business and Economics Research Journal, Vol. 2 No. 6, pp. 13-25.
Patterson, I. (2006), “Growing older: tourism and leisure behavior of older adults”, CABI, Oxfordshire, UK; Cambridge, MA.
Schroder, A., Widmann, T. (2007), “Demographic change and its impact on the travel industry: oldies – nothing but goldies?” Trends and Issues in Global Tourism”, Springer: Berlin and Heidelberg, Germany, pp. 3-17.
Stankovic, M.S. (1995), “Pozitivni i negativni uticaji turizma na životnu sredinu” [Positive and Negative Effects of Tourism on the Environment], Glasnik SGD: Beograd, sv. LXXV, 1, pp. 47-48.
Tongren, H.N. (1988), “Determinant behavior characteristics of older consumers”, The journal of Consumer Affairs, Vol. 22 No. 1, pp. 136–157.
Vasovic V. & Biocanin R. (2007), “Odrzivi razvoj” [Sustainable Development], Ecologica, Naucno drustvo za zastitu.
Wells, N.M., Evans, G.W., Yang, Y. (2010), “Environments & health: Planning decisions as public-health decisions”, Journal of Architectural and Planning Research, Vol. 27 No. 2, pp. 124–143.
Wigle, D.T. (2003), “Child health and the environment”, New York: Oxford University Press.
