Leisure and tourism services and the older innovator

In the light of changing demographics this article seeks to identify whether 'older' consumers are innovative in their consumption behaviour. A domain specific scale is used among up-market consumers for leisure and tourism services. This scale has been extensively applied to consumers to identify predisposition towards innovative behaviour for specific products and services. A postal survey identified 'older' consumers as having a relatively high level of domain specific innovativeness. The authors suggest that as people age they do not necessarily become less interested in consumption and it is a mistake to ignore or alienate such a potentially lucrative market.