Title: How COVID-19 affected baby boomers' tourist attitudes in Greece?

Authors: Lambros Tsourgiannis; Stavros Valsamidis; Vasilios Zoumpoulidis; Foteini Perdiki

Addresses: Department of Accounting and Finance, International Hellenic University, Agios Loukas, Kavala, Greece; Directorate of Public Health and Social Care of Regional District of Xanthi, Region of Eastern Macedonia and Thrace, Headquarters Xanthi, Greece; Business Administration Department, Hellenic Open University, Patra, Greece ' Department of Accounting and Finance, International Hellenic University, Agios Loukas, Kavala, Greece ' Department of Accounting and Finance, International Hellenic University, Agios Loukas, Kavala, Greece ' Department of Accounting and Finance, International Hellenic University, Agios Loukas, Kavala, Greece

Abstract: This paper explores how COVID-19 affected the attitudes of Greek elderly people and particularly, of those belonging to the generation called 'baby boomers' regarding their decision about going or not on holidays. In particular, it aims to identify the main attitudes of baby boomers that will go on holidays within COVID-19 crisis, as well as the main attitudes of those that will not, and to cluster them into groups according to their behaviour. The researchers elaborated a primary survey on 1,287 baby boomers in Greece, in the summer of 2021. About 45% of the respondents declared that would not go on holidays, whilst 55% of them answered that they would. The key factors that describe their main attitudes towards the above-mentioned issues were detected through PCA, whilst cluster analysis classified the respondents into groups regarding their attitudes. Quadratic discriminant analysis was performed to assess cluster predictability, and chi-square analysis was employed to profile each group regarding their demographic characteristics. Three groups that will go on holidays are identified in this study: a) conscious; b) Bon Viveurs; c) ambivalent. Baby boomers who will not take holidays were classified into three groups: a) provident; b) cautious; c) opportunists.

Keywords: tourism marketing; holidays; COVID-19; baby boomers; Greece.

DOI: 10.1504/IJLTM.2023.138754

International Journal of Leisure and Tourism Marketing, 2023 Vol.8 No.1, pp.16 - 35

Received: 02 Dec 2023
Accepted: 03 Jan 2024
Published online: 30 May 2024 *

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