Present Situation Of The Elder-Citizen Travel In Hebei And Its Development Strategies

Nowadays, all the developed countries in the world have come to the state of population-aging society. So have some of the developing countries. China is a country not only of the largest number of aging population but also of the fastest speed towards a population-aging society. Because of the enforcement of the family-plan policy in the last thirty years, the rate of the youth in population has been decreasing. On the other hand, Population mortality rate has dropped since the foundation of new China in Hebei Province, and it came to a low level in the 1980s with the average age increasing more and more. This makes the elderly market and industry a hot issue in the 20th century. And developing the elderly tourism market becomes a necessity to promote the sustainable development of tourism economy.This paper makes a research and analysis on the elderly tourism in Hebei by questionnaire. The questionnaire is compiled on the basis of many references at home and abroad and a prepared communication with the senior citizens in advance. And the targets of this questionnaire refer to the people form 55 to 80 years old. The results are as the following:1. 44.3% of the senior citizens travel for scenery, 28.5% for visiting relatives, 4.8% for the religious belief, 3.1% for business and 7.5% for other purposes. 16.2% of them travel for vacation. And 22.4% of them choose to visit the beautiful sanatorium for the sake of health.2. 54.4% of the elder people get the tourism information from relatives or colleagues, which is the main form of tourism information for them. 29.8% have the information through the organization of their working units, 15.8% from the advertisement of the travel agencies, and 14.5% from such medias as TV, travel magazines, newspapers and other kinds of propagandas.3. Most of the elderly travelers are interested in historical interests and places of scenery (44.3% & 53.1%), especially the holy lands of revolution and the sceneries with obvious local features. But they pay little attention to exploration activities.4. Elderly people show their special attention to accommodation, scenic spot arrangement, guide service, entertainment, transportation and shopping. 41.2% for the dining as the most important aspect in service, 33.5% regard lodging, 29.8% for scenic spot and 15.4% for guide service.5. 57.9% of the target people choose to travel in Hebei, while 39.9% wants to travel out of Hebei in China. Only 2.2% have the tendency of traveling abroad.6. In the ways of traveling, 58.8% prefer to have a package tour. This preference is more obvious among elderly people than among other travelers.7. There are great differences in choosing the traveling time. After retirement they have lots of time to travel except for holidays. However, most of the elderly people still choose to travel during the Golden Weeks.8. According to the survey, the factors which hinder the senior citizen to travel are mainly bodily factor, the leisure time, psychological factors of the senior citizens and the social structure factor.This paper analyses the problems in tourism towards aging tourists on the combination of the actuality of tourism and the rate of population aging. The problems mainly cover the aspects of special services to the aging people, indicating the lack of professional treatment and travel agencies, the improper traveling charges, and insufficient consideration of the convenient tourism facilities.There is great potential in the development of the aging tourism market. If a new economic growth point is placed on it, more problems should be solved together with the good service to meet the physical and psychological needs of the aging people.