barriers to travels and tourism among older adults
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Based upon the readings in my textbook "Leisure and Aging" by Gibson as well as other supplemental sources, I would say the two most significant barriers to travels and tourism among older adults are physiologic constraints that lead to deterioration in one’s health and lack of companionship.
Physiologic constraints
Such constraints include hypertension, cardiovascular diseases, and hyperlipidemia. Older adults are also more likely to contract diseases like malaria, urinary tract infection while traveling compared to younger adults. Older adults also tend to suffer more from traumatic injuries and accidents that nearly results in falls.
Lack of companionship
Lack of companionship is a fundamental constraint that older adults experience because it denies them emotional closeness to their family, which has increased throughout their adulthood. Older adults, therefore, find the company of family members during their travel emotionally gratifying. As older adults go through increasing age, their probability of becoming widowed or losing travel partners increases.
Mitigating the barriers
I would advise older adults to seek pre-travel guidance and have their health examined. Common practice indicates that despite older adults being less capable of resisting diseases while on a trip compared to younger travelers, they rarely seek pre-travel guidance like younger travelers do. That should include routine immunizations as well as additional immunizations when their doctor's advice accordingly before they travel.
It is paramount for older adults to have caregivers or family members during travels that can aid in caregiving and thus make their traveling more meaningful because older adults are naturally physically frail. I would also advise them to travel in groups, especially for the older adults that are more physically needy.
If I were advising a couple currently in their 50s, who plan to retire in their mid-to-late 60s, who wish to make travel a significant part of their retirement, I would advise them to recognize the potential barriers to travel among older adults. Acknowledging such barriers as Physiologic constraints and lack of companionship would help them negotiate the issues with caregivers, family members, and travel agencies and possibly be able to take more meaningful vacation trips.