The Effects of Travel Motivation on Satisfaction: The Case of Older Tourists
Vania Vigolo, Francesca Simeoni, Fabio Cassia, Marta Maria Ugolini

Abstract
Older tourists have become an increasingly attractive market segment for both tourism businesses and tourist destinations. Specifically, several studies have shown that older tourists tend to travel in off-peak seasons, thus representing an interesting target, especially for destinations willing to reduce seasonality. Destination marketers should strive to understand older tourists’ travel motivations and their effect on overall satisfaction with the destination. Based on these premises, this paper investigates the effect of older tourists’ travel motivations on overall satisfaction with a mature, highly seasonal destination. A survey was carried out among a sample of 211 older tourists in Sirmione, a destination located on Lake Garda, Italy. The data collected were analyzed using both descriptive statistics and linear regression. The findings highlight the relationships between four motivations—culture, pleasure-seeking, relaxation, and physical—and overall tourist satisfaction with the destination. In particular, the results indicate that the effects of the four motivations vary markedly depending on the age of the respondents. This study contributes to the literature on older tourist behavior. In addition, the findings may assist both destination managers and tourism operators (such as hoteliers) to position their offerings to intercept the growing demand from older tourists.

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