Tourism in Europe: Does age matter?

This publication focuses on selective aspects of the travel behaviour of residents from the EU Member States in 2006. In so doing it mainly deals with differences, if any, in the travel behaviour of four different age groups, that is tourists aged 15 to 24 years, 25 to 44 years, 45 to 64 years and older than 64 years. It appears that while on average 55% of the population makes at least one holiday trip of four nights or more during the year, this is only the case for 41% of the population aged 65 years and above. While people aged 25 to 44 years make up the largest share of the total number of tourists, with 38%, persons aged 65 years and older have the smallest share in the number of tourists, with only 15%. However, it can be assumed, given the prevailing tendency of an aging population, that this age pattern will change within the coming decades. On the other hand, regarding all persons participating in tourism, the oldest tourists (aged 65 years and over) make on average the most and the longest trips of all age groups, doing on average 2.1 trips per year and spending 11.7 nights away on each of these trips. Of all holiday trips made in 2006, more than 6 out of 10 holiday trips were spent within the own country, while for the oldest age group even more than 7 out of 10 trips were domestic trips. Consequently, this tendency is also reflected in all four age groups, meaning that in 2006 European tourists of every age group made more trips within their country of residence than to a foreign country.