What is the Silver Economy and what solutions does it bring to an aging society. - Benefits and opportunities from Wellbeing Tourism

The aging of the population poses new questions for businesses. Commercially, there are opportunities, but for employers, it is clear that a new approach is now required as the concepts of retirement begin to change.

Many think that the pension crisis is intertwined with the Greek fiscal crisis. But it is not so. All state pension funds currently are in crisis. The reason is simple: our society is aging, and the existing resources are not enough to sustain it.

The OECD shows Greece as one of the 6 EU countries with the longest life expectancy where the population 65+ reaches 19.91% with 2014 data together with Sweden, Portugal 19.62%, Finland (19.94 %), Germany (21.7%) and Italy (21.5%). What is worrying, however, is not the percentages that, according to OECD forecasts, citizens over 65 will have reached 30% of our society in the next 10 years, but when this happened.

In Greece, the 65+ population segment in 1970, constituted 11.06% of the population and gradually in 30 years, it reached 16.63% of the population in 2000. From 2000 to 2010 in just ten years this increase reached 19.91%, while today the growth of the 65+ population is galloping towards 21.5%.

The under-birth rate is inversely proportional and is constantly decreasing, reaching 1.3% so the population replacement rate which is ideally 2% is not enough not only to cover the population but not enough as a percentage of workers to fund our pension system as it is now. And this happens in most countries with the same pension funding system as Greece. The economically strong countries have not avoided the risk: there are no resources and must be found for the part of the population that is aging, has increased demands for care and pensions due to longevity, and the demographic pyramid reversal is happening for the first time in history, so the economic model is sought to avoid (yet another) crisis in the fiscal balance. But how will such a thing be done?

Global organizations work in two main directions, promoting preventive health policies on the one hand and prolonging work on the other, by protecting acquired rights, for example by applying compensatory measures for those who want to prolong their presence in the labor field, balancing between their pension and salary. But these will be analyzed in another article, following this one.

Today we will talk about the term - framework for the consequences of Aging called the Silver Economy. By the term Silver Economy we mean the system of production, distribution and consumption of goods and services aimed the purchasing power of the customer groups from 50 years to after 80 years old, satisfying their particular needs for health and care, leisure, consumption, insurance, banking solutions and residential living solutions.

The Silver Economy is not as an existing economic system, but rather a Policy model with instruments, to support Aging and the starting point for the formation of a system oriented to the needs of societies, regarding the aging population. As an economic model, it started in Japan as part of the Technology for Aging industry, for solutions to help elderly people live and support themselves. Asia necessarily takes the lead in Aging policies, since in Asia today there are 3 countries with the most crucial Aging priorities: with the largest elderly population (China - 130 million), the oldest (Japan - 25% of the population) and the fastest growing in Singapore.

The Silver Economy is therefore still hybrid, not yet an economic sector per se, but a collection of products and services from other economic sectors funneled for specs determination adapted to ageing needs – such as technology, telecommunications, finance, insurance, housing, transport, energy, tourism, culture, long-term care, etc., which are subject to very specific and differentiated specifications from other products and services aimed at a younger consumer segment. The ideal is to apply the “ageless principle” in product design, but this cannot be the case in many products e.g.? in the insurance, tourism, housing, transport, cultural integration etc, industries.

This is why the Silver Economy is constantly gaining ground, as in the field of Silver Marketing, promoting services and goods exactly as they should to these customer groups, and imposing its principles on large multinational groups in the design of products with the so-called transgenerational design, such as Apple's I-Pad which is precisely designed to meet the needs of all age groups with rounder points, a brighter screen, a shape that fits the grip of the older population as well, that is not the same as that of young people, etc. The same is happening in Advertising, hiring older models in advertising: everyone remembers Lanc?me's decision to fire Isabella Rossellini at 43 because she "looked too old", and bringing her back at her 65 years of age, from the same company to promote its cosmetic products again. We have a long way to go, let’s first deal with Ageism in Advertising and Marketing.

Thus, every provider of services and goods that plans its offer now, must necessarily consider this customer group, with the biggest purchasing power parity, after the rising middle class of China.

?What does all this mean for Greece?

In another article that will follow, we will talk about the future of the Greek economy in relation to the 50+ demographic, as it is being shaped post 2026 where the European Central Bank will stop buying Greek bonds, and about the threats posed by the demographic upheaval, such as how the economy will serve the basic needs of those ages with reduced resources, mainly in long-term care and care, but also in housing. Here, we will talk about opportunities that are evident, for example from extended work after retirement, the skills and experience of these citizens over 65 years of age, and how they could be an incentive to boost the Greek economy. That is, we will be talking about generating income from the right product offering and the right marketing, for these 50+ customer groups.

In this article, we will start with the opportunities presented by the Silver Economy for Greece, and we will talk about the Tourism sector, where Greece offers the most services and goods, and the so-called Silver Tourism.

We will see what tourist products correspond to which customer groups. Is the limit for Silver Tourism the age of 50+, or the post-retirement age of 65+? How does Outdoor Tourism differ from Silver Tourism, from Spa, Geriatric Tourism, Wellness, Wellness Tourism, etc.? How are these distinguished and mainly: what are the different needs per age range, and which tourism service providers should consider planning their offer accordingly, as well as their sales.

?

Silver Tourism is a developmental term and does not exist in Marketing – not even Silver Marketing.

This article was written in 2018. The then, Thematic Tourism Bill that was submitted to the Parliament for voting, did not mention the type of Silver Tourism, nor did it mention Wellbeing Tourism, which is the preeminent product of Silver Tourism, mostly adapted at the Greek offer. It is an omission, as the 50+ customer segment of boomers, has been shown, as per the Master Card ING 2017 data, to spend by far more than all others, indicatively in the EU 50+ tourists spend 35% of all travel expenses and 80% of the cruise, in the US 50+ leisure travel spending is 80%, and 85% is the proportion of spending by tourists over 50 from Asia. They also travel for a longer period and mainly in the off-season, so they are a valuable customer group for tourism in Greece, all year round. It is questionable why such an important group of 50+ tourists, which is also the core segment of Silver Tourism, was left out of the bill.

But who is this silver tourist customer segment and by what criteria is it segmented so that the provider can shape its offer accordingly?

The customer group segmentation analysis must be completely understood, because it dictates the development conditions of Silver Tourism, and is very basic for the tourism provider to see where to direct his products, but it is also essential to understand that it is not promoted and sold as Silver Tourism, it only develops like this. We will see the reasons below. So who is this 50+ customer segment and how does it break down?

The general rule that one should keep in mind is that the offer should be shaped by the state of health, and the work status of the 50+ customer groups that the provider (hotelier, restaurateur, tour operator, etc.) wants to attract, so as to make the corresponding investments to shape its offer accordingly. Others are the preferences of tourists who are 60 years old and still working, healthy, demanding, with financial comfort, with a preference for relaxation and well-being, and other are the requirements of retirees 65+ who are looking for an opportunity for activities, adventures and new experiences, a new purpose in life to balance the void left by loneliness and the lack of affirmation of the work environment. We have all seen the movie "About Schmidt" with Jack Nicholson which convincingly describes the change after 65 years of age. These 65+ travelers are also facing the first signs of declining health with one or more chronic conditions, and the provider should consider how to offer enhanced support as travel insurance stops after 70 years in most cases.

However, they should not be treated as patient! This is a classic mistake made even by doctors who are in the Medical Tourism business and are orienting the legislators and the investors to the wrong directions: medical tourism for sick, weak people in need for medical intervention which is not needed in fact. A chronic condition is exactly what the word "condition" says, it is not a disease, with acute phase in need for medical care. Chronic conditions do not get acute often and are self-managed. They start around 50 years and peak much later, at 80 years where the inability to live independently begins - and this is the main criterion that providers must keep in mind when preparing tourism products. It is a chronic, manageable condition that leaves a lot of room for someone with hypertension, diabetes, arthritis and/or cardiovascular problems, to enjoy new experiences and travel, up to the point of becoming a geriatric patient and a Geriatric Tourist.

More about what Geriatric Tourism is in the link below.

Age is not the determinant of impairment due to aging; lifestyle factors are.

And here lies the difference of the Silver Tourism product offering: in supporting the travelers, with chronic conditions not in acute state.

who want special exercise and wellness programs, activities, healthy gastronomy, possibly also rehabilitation but do not travel for medical and healing purposes and this differentiates them from Health/Spa Tourism where the purpose is to care/cure an onset of a chronic condition that has become acute (e.g. advanced spondylarthrosis, musculoskeletal problems, etc.) in hotels with increased safety and health care needs, and Silver certainly has nothing to do with Medical Tourism, which is aimed at patients regardless of age, in need of interventional type of treatments and interventions, where the "tourism" criterion occupies 4th and 5th place in the reasons for choosing a destination, even more that the term “medical tourism” is considered obsolete, as oxymoron, calling this type of travel Medical Care travel.

Finally, Geriatric Tourists are those with increased health problems, vulnerability, mobility problems due to old age, with multiple co-morbidities and traveling with an escort. Even these tourists, however, do not travel for medical purposes when they do not do so purposefully, but for exactly the opposite reason: to live and enjoy life as much as they can towards the end of their lives, engaging in bucket list experiences, and they certainly do not need any white shirt to remind them of this end of life. Wellbeing offer, is therefore a transcending product, primarily used during Geriatric Tourism and Silver Tourism and as we will see below, it is the most appropriate product for 50+ Tourism.

The differentiation in the segmentation analysis determines the business value proposition, for the appropriate type of tourism, per segment in the 50+ age group.

The absence, or incorrect analysis of the segments - which analysis is done only after a Comprehensive Geriatric Assessment, that requires knowledge of Geriatric Gerontology - is responsible for the loss of hundreds of millions of euros in Villages for...Seniors, a term - discrimination (Ageism), since according to Esichaikul, R 2012. "Before the age of 70 years, a limit after which travelers are not insured during their travel, and when this segment is not traveling for medical reasons, acute or chronic, studies are arguing that the preferences, motives and principles of the segments of people above 50 years vary a lot, impeding classification of this segment under one category.”

Therefore, let every Developer and Real Estate Investor know that any investment in retirement communities, with the expectation that healthy, strong, prosperous people over 50 will visit them, is doomed to failure.

??

Then what is Silver Tourism and Wellness Tourism?

Let's start with what it isn't.

Silver Tourism is not Accessibility Tourism which encompasses all ages of people with Disability or Invalidity, illnesses that are not age related. Most tourists aged 50 to 80 are generally in good health when they travel. However, it requires good accessibility for the first signs of osteoarthritis after 50 y.o and frailty for all tourists after 65. The difference lies in the degree of impairment that the health condition imposes, starting from just small functional incapacity problems, up to Disability or Invalidity that require special accessibility conditions. At this stage only, of Disability or Invalidity, Silver Tourists are part of the Accessibility Tourism.

It is not anti-aging tourism. The term does not exist in science, it is used by cosmetology or low-quality wellness products promising reversal of aging which does not exist: there is no anti-aging process in life, but there is a Healthy and Active Aging Policy, according to the WHO definition, and Wellness/Spa tourism, or Wellness Tourism for which we will talk about below.

Finally, it is not... "3rd Age" Tourism, which is popularized by the term "senior tourism", a discrimination term based on age, an Ageism. There is not a single tour operator, hotelier or tourist agent that sells their product under this term of "3rd age" or "Senior Tourism", as even if this population exceeds 65 years of age, based on the Subjective Age theory, they consider themselves, a continuation of who they were 20 years ago, without perceiving any restrictions on participation in social, economic and recreational activities. In extreme cases, this has led to loss of life, e.g. when hiking in extreme heat or swimming in long distance alone.? The segment of the Subjective Age perception, spans from 50 years of age and ends when frailty starts.

The term senior/3rd age constitutes Ageism, it is discriminatory, when it is encompassing all customer groups 50+, 65, and the older old of 80+, if not used for a specific policy e.g. welfare of low-income pensioners and thus expresses a specific segmentation according to income, occupation or social criteria, - because it discriminates tourists based on age and not by the idiosyncrasies and preferences of their actual physical condition and health, which is a stereotype. Remember this: in a few years, the first cases of discrimination and stereotyping against people 55+ will be tried, just like what happened with gender and race discrimination.

Silver Tourism is therefore a developmental and regulatory term that frames the principles, definitions and standards for the development of this type of tourism of the different customer groups after 50 years, taking into account targeted specifications, regarding the needs to support their health and special planning of the tourist offer, covering the specialized preferences of these groups, which, while they are the same as other age groups, nevertheless differ in the implementation of the Silver Tourist trip. And most importantly, it is never promoted, advertised, or marketed as Silver Tourism, it is only developed as such.

We will talk about Silver Marketing in a later article, for now it is enough to say that

The promotion and sale of Silver Tourism is based on products that have been designed specifically for the needs of these customer groups, with the distinct characteristic that the assets from the development specifications in Tourism 50+ products, can never be explicitly promoted as such, but only implied. It is the Age related Marketing paradox.

No one wants to remember that he or she is in need age related offer, but they will certainly choose this age friendly product over another that does not contain adapted to age characteristics.

Wellbeing Tourism, the ideal product of Silver Tourism.

By Wellbeing we mean the policies being followed internationally to maintain the good health of the growing demographic of the 50+ population and the avoidance of care and cure costs, that account for 60% of admissions of chronically ill patients, which are avoided through prudent self-management of health. The WHO has established the Active and Healthy Ageing policy to achieve the goal of primary healthcare structures overburden, by people with comorbidities, promoting health prevention at those ages, through lifestyle choices. WHO defines health as "the state of complete physical, mental and social well-being and not merely the absence of disease or infirmity". Mental and social wellbeing are the differentiators from the Wellness services. Social wellbeing, includes also income, occupation, integration, safety, insurance policies and other environmental parameters.

Wellness, on the other hand, translates the services of the Wellness and Spa industry for the rejuvenation and health restoration, of the overworked organism. It is therefore wrong to use the term "Wellness" to translate Wellbeing policies and products offer: SPA offers Wellness, not Wellbeing which includes other socio-economic and environmental parameters that Wellness does not.

A correct translation of terms, suggests that the investor and the provider correctly target the investments and works, especially the promotion of their tourism products.

It would be a degradation of the entire Region or Municipality to want to promote many and different tourism businesses by developing and branding the Place for Wellbeing Tourism (e.g., societal forms of wellbeing that the Mediterranean mentality offers) and go out for promotion only marketing Wellness Tourism parts of the global Wellbeing offer.

Therefore, the correct use of the terms is important for the correct planning and promotion of the tourist products and especially the investments.

In conclusion, the term "Wellbeing" is a socio - economic policy that many developed OECD countries align with the Silver Economy, including as well as the personal fulfillment and the health prevention policies of the population, according to the Active and Healthy Aging policy of the WHO, but also the sustainable local development that promotes the good health of the population.

Scientific basis of the term "Wellbeing".

The definition of Well-Being is attributed according to WHO theory, to the well-being of a person as a combination of endogenous and exogenous factors - such as income, environment, social environment, national mentality, religion/principles, general good health and endogenous, such as the actions of individual development, satisfaction with the life the individual leads and cognitive functioning.

It has been documented in the literature that Well-Being is something that consumers want to fulfill while doing tourism (Voigt & Pforr, 2014). Tourists in OECD countries put Wellbeing as one of their top three priorities in life (VisitBritain, 2010).

Vacations are the means by which people can make this priority a reality. It has been established that the tourism market that focuses on Wellbeing is growing geometrically (Voigt & Pforr, 2014).

It could be argued, that if tourism providers with offer in packages that include exercise (first in ranking), responsible consumption, participation in local society and tradition, gastronomy (second place) and visits to rejuvenation centers and thermal springs ( third place), thereby composing the Wellness Tourism product, align their products and services offered, they will create a Wellness Tourism destination identity in their place (Brand) thus adding additional revenue for a destination, exactly by the aligned brand (Stanford Research Institute 2012 survey).

Wellbeing Tourism could be defined as the set of above activities that a destination is able to offer to tourists, whose common characteristic is the search for new life experiences, and personal fulfilment when they travel and usually do so several times per year, just wintering, or in a longer-term stay e.g. in condo hotels or even in a permanent second home.

While Wellness, translates into a short holiday package that strengthens the Health of the 50+ tourist, Well-being is addressed to the retirement age and concerns the change of their quality of life, a new meaning that acquires, for example, packages of special tourist experiences (contact with the local transformational tradition etc) and their long-term stay or wintering after retirement in warmer climates, with a better quality of life, nutrition, exposure to beneficial elements of the destination (sun, sea, air, microclimate etc).

It is therefore easily perceived that we are talking about different tourism offers: with Wellness simply for body renewal, rehab and pleasure while Wellbeing aims for deeper transformational changes, through authentic longer lasting travel experiences.

The products of Well-Being Tourism concern beyond tourism, and the sustainable development of a place, in addition to the preservation of its characteristics that make it attractive to visitors, and they seek in their visit authentic experiences, a promise of Well-Being, the integration of foreign incoming tourists in the value system of principles and morals of Greece, its tradition, its inhabitants with the ultimate goal in addition to the tourist packages and the attraction for the long-term stay and/or overwintering in our country and the stimulation of real estate and the secondary housing market.

Malta is already the ideal destination for 50+ sections all year round, parts of Italy too, as well as Cyprus and Spain, with Turkey becoming the champion . However, no country promotes its tourism as Wellbeing Tourism and while they are clearly more advanced in creating a well-being tourism product than Greece, they have not made it part of the destination's identity.

Silver Economy and Tourism can change local development and Greece could invest in a Unique Selling Proposition (USP) with a strong point branding and promoting Greece as a Wellbeing destination and this first goes through the correct institutionalization of the term Silver Tourism and/or Wellbeing Tourism, in order to create the momentum to be immediately adopted by tourism providers for the planning and promotion of the post pandemic tourism, with the need of Wellbeing so much more accentuated.

Stella I. Tsartsara [[email protected]]

Gerontologist - Wellness Tourism Specialist | Comprehensive long-term care | Cross-border healthcare | Tourism Expert 50+

This article or parts of it may be copied, reproduced, republished, electronically copied, broadcast or transmitted, provided the source is acknowledged and the author's prior written permission is given.