21 February 2008 Gap-year travel
While the concept of gap-year travel invokes images of 18-year-old fresh-faced backpackers wearing bandanas in their hair and Birkenstocks on their feet, new research suggests that this stereotype may not be as accurate as you think.
In August 2007, the Association of British Travel Agents (Abta) reported that there is a growing market for over-50s gap-year travel.
Spokesperson Sean Tipton notes that this age group is "much more" adventurous than other generations in terms of overseas holidays.
He even notes that in a move against the stereotype, this demographic is less inclined to take beach holidays, instead preferring more involving activities.
Mr Tipton explained that people of the over-50s group are increasingly opting for senior gap years, with a view to travelling the world later on in life.
Saga - a company which caters specifically to the over-50s, now claims that its top-ten long-haul holidays for this demographic includes trips to South Africa, New Zealand and China as opposed to holidays in the UK and Europe.
"I think it's a cliche but a true one that fifty is the new forty. They're getting more adventurous and they're not so keen on just sitting on the beach getting a suntan - they want to go and do something. That's partly because they're generally very well-travelled," Mr Tipton commented.
This atypical gap-year holidaymaker theory is supported to an extent by a more recent report from industry specialist Gapyear.com last month.
Tom Griffiths of Gapyear.com noted that the gap-year travel industry breaks down into three age group sectors, those aged 18-24, the 25-35 demographic and the 55-65 gap year travellers.
The first group is generally comprised of pre, during and post-university students, the second is made up of those taking breaks in their careers while the third group are pre and post-retirement gap-year holidaymakers.
And Mr Griffiths noted that the fastest growing demographic is the gap-year travellers aged between 25 and 35, or "career gappers".
"The reason for the growth in the 25-35 year market…is that they are part a generation that took the first gap year in the late nineties when the growth was and those travelling now are the ones that didn't actually take the gap year", Mr Griffiths continued.
He added that they are now reaching the age of 30 and are having a "quarter-life crisis" and wanting to do what their friends did.
The Gapyear.com spokesperson said that the average spend per person during a gap year is between £3,000 and £4,000 for 18-24 year olds, £6,000 to £9,000 for the 25-35 year old market and £5,000 per person for the 55-65 year olds.
He added that the 55-65 year old group is the second fastest growing and that "most of them" travel in couples.
In terms of locations for gap-year travel, Gapyear.som reports that Australia is still a good long-term market for overseas travellers.
According to STA Travel, record numbers of long-haul around the world tickets were purchased for 2007 with Australia as the number one destination.
However, New Zealand is also "quite effective" as a destination and holds "huge appeal" for gap-year travellers.
Meanwhile, the AA recently reported that thanks to the rise in career-break travellers, the average backpack and its contents carried by gap-year travellers is now worth roughly £450.
"These trips are no longer solely the domain of the cash-strapped student with only one change of clothes and a map to his name," the AA noted, revealing that mobile phones, digital cameras, MP3 players and laptops were all popular possessions for career-break travellers.
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