The train that was going to take them from the Palencia town of Espinosa de Villagonzalo to Santander had to stop in Reinosa due to a breakdown. It was night and cold. Despite having a cell phone, none of them notified their respective families. They were fine, on their way to where they wanted to go, and they had each other. Domitila Calvo is almost 90 years old, and María del Carmen Polo is 71. The fact that they didn't call opened the eyes of the rest of the family members when we found out about the mishap. It helped us understand them and not age them with our looks. For us there was no reason to make that trip, for them it was as necessary as it was exciting to get on that train. It was their way of saying they feel good and a romantic act, as it is The walker above the sea of clouds (1817), a painting by Caspar David Friedrich in which a man is seen standing on a rocky peak and turning his back to whoever is looking at him. In front of that man, a precipice extends towards a horizon of steep peaks that seem to resist being made invisible by the fog. Condition that people, especially women, experience socially after a certain age.
The aging of the population is a combination of the increase in average life expectancy and the decrease in birth rates. A social and fiscal problem that requires creative solutions. Japan, along with South Korea and Hong Kong, is the oldest country, its average life expectancy exceeds 84 years. That of Spain is 82. In this context, the segment of people between 65 and 85 is increasingly generating more interest in the tourism industry due to its ability to break with seasonality when traveling and due to its number. According to the UN's 2019 world population outlook, in 2050, of the estimated 9.7 billion people, 1.552 million, slightly more than the population of China, will be over 65 years old. Now there are about 720 million. And the World Tourism Organization estimates that the population over 60 years of age will account for more than 2,000 million trips by 2060. A succulent figure.
Health, time and money
Croatian Sania Jelic is 67 years old and since she retired, after a professional career in the tourism sector, she has taken a five-month solo trip through South America and is now touring part of Africa. She has not yet returned and is already planning to travel to Asia and French Polynesia. For those whose retirement is not far away, Sania tells them: “With a little luck, most people will reach the age of 65 in good physical and mental shape. With the ability to fully enjoy at least 10 more years of active life.” She is part of the very active retirees, a generational segment between two others; that of those over 50 years old and up to 65, and that of older adults, from 80 years old, more or less. Juan Carlos Alcaide, professor at ESIC Business & Marketing School, explains that people like Sania who are in good health, have time and have purchasing power (pension, savings or an inheritance) seek to live new experiences in natural, historical and cultural destinations. : “They like the integration with the landscape and the countryside. The learning and experience in the axis of the activity makes the tourism they practice much more active than what people their age did before.”
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For Isabel Martínez Higueras (68 years old), the pandemic coincided with her retirement as a clinical psychologist, which forced her to postpone her trip to Japan. It was in the fall of 2023, and she spent two months as a visitor, which is what she calls her profile in that country. Isabel assures that retirement is a window of opportunities to redirect her towards things that interest her and do not require economic necessity. In a cafe in Pozuelo (Madrid), dressed in a red kimono jacket, she says: “I went to Japan to feel like myself there.” According to her, hers is not a tourist trip, but an experiential one. She did it herself, although she knew and met Japanese people during her stay. “I don't go to places where I don't know anyone. “I'm drawn to going to see people and seeing what comes up.” To meet people she uses Couchsurfing, an application that is used to contact locals who offer their time, company and even their home. To find accommodation, use previous contacts and the platform Homestaya global hospitality and homestay network.
The people we call older, veteran or old have knowledge and skills that are not assumed, not because of their age, but because of preconceived ideas by those in their 40s, 30s and 20s. Sania tells about her travels On Instagram with photos, videos, reels and direct. He met Isabel through this network, which she also used to tell about her daily life in Japan. The content that Sania creates during her African journey is sent to Isabel and she posts it. Isabel, unlike Sania, says that she does not want to be anyone's model, but if there is someone who is interested in what she does, let her watch @japonconcanas: “I share experiences that other people cannot have, although my primary objective is to experience, learn and connect.” What they both do, in addition to publishing in Spanish and English, is travel light; cabin suitcase with wheels and backpack.
Alone or in a group
Katrin Dams (71 years old, @katrindams2) is a Belgian living in Hondarribia for whom packing a small suitcase is her greatest trauma. “I always carry too many things,” she says over the phone. Her first trips were made on vacation, when she put aside her work as a translator, an aerobics instructor, and as the owner of the small hotel that she converted her house into when she divorced her. She turned 70, she retired and continued traveling. She is not surprised that her 19-year-old granddaughters tell her that she is not like the grandmothers of her friends, nor that her children do not know where she is going or where she comes from. In 2023 she has been to Angola, Congo, North and South Sudan, northern Nigeria, Chad, Mauritania and Senegal. In 2024, for now, she plans to go to Pakistan and Afghanistan. She is aware that to travel the way she does, you need money, as well as will. She travels more than Tintin and she does it alone and in conflictive places, with the support that the agency gives her. Last Places.
When traveling in a group, the age of the rest does not matter to him, what he does not like is traveling with couples. Couples who are increasingly encouraged to travel in groups for practical and economic reasons, like Eva Sanz Arévalo (50 years old, economist), who went to Iceland with her husband. She did it under the shelter of huna, a tour operator of the Huakai group aimed at people between 40 and 60 years old, who are accompanied by a group leader, in charge of coordinating it, managing logistics and helping if necessary. People who have traveled with Katrin, even though they are younger, ask her to travel together again, her family asks her to do what people do normal. To his granddaughters, who always tell him how afraid they are of him leaving, he responds that he has already lived his life, that he wants to die doing what he wants at that moment and while he can, although he wants to live as long as possible to enjoy them. : “Our life belongs to us, not to others,” concludes Katrin, who adds that Benidorm is not for her, yet. She is not part of those 30 million foreign tourists over 50 years old who visit Spain and spend an average of 1,100 euros per person.
Greater offer
Benidorm, Levante, the Canary Islands and the Balearic Islands are the geography par excellence of the destinations for retirees (in 2019, seniors contributed to the Spanish tourism industry, according to estimates from the Silver Economy White Paper, almost 9,000 million euros, 28% of total), although José de Juan Saboya, general director of Silver Economy Group, says: “There are more and more destinations that are working to offer an attractive proposal for this segment; adapting the offer at the destination and working on communication and marketing. In recent years, a greater offer has been emerging, marketed by travel agencies specialized in senior tourists, which respond to the new needs and expectations of this public, who no longer expect the same as they did 10 or 20 years ago.” Ask Domitila and María del Carmen, two veterans with the spirit to continue making escapes.
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