Community-based group purchase tourism for seniors: consumer preferences and willingness to pay

Community-based group purchase tourism (CGPT), as an innovative form of tourism, serves as a significant entry point for the development of the senior tourism market. Using a Discrete Choice Experiment, we assess seniors’ preferences and willingness to pay for attributes associated with community-based group purchase tourism. The results indicate that compared to tour group leaders whose top trait is being organized, seniors with higher educational backgrounds prefer leaders whose top trait is being communicative and attentive. Furthermore, the majority of seniors favour group leaders aged between 41 and 50, as well as moderately sized tour groups (11-30 participants). Additionally, seniors exhibit a preference for tour groups with an average participant age between 51 and 60. The inclusion of complimentary gifts is also found to be appealing to seniors. The conclusions drawn from this study provide insights for both tourism providers and policymakers, enabling them to tailor tourism options that better align with the needs of seniors, thereby enhancing customers’ travel experiences and quality of life while fostering the growth of the senior tourism market.