Project PO ACORES 2020-2015-TUSÉNIOR 55+

We aim to achieve the following main goals:

• Understand the motivations, expectations, desires and needs of seniors from various locations (Azores islands, Portuguese mainland and Diaspora Communities: USA and Canada), namely about the consumption of a product with a cultural aspect and optimization of health and well-being;
• Build a senior tourism program for a desired time frame (5 days to a week are expected), based on seniors' requests and motivations for the Azores destination and respecting their specificities in terms of functional limitations, mobility, healthy gastronomic experiences, spa experiences and acquisition of knowledge about the Azorean cultural and natural heritage, with a view to optimizing global well-being and promoting active aging;
• Promote the Azores as a senior destination par excellence, through the dissemination of the results of these studies (1 and 2), among the senior public and tourism agents;
• Increase Scientific Production of Quality and Oriented to Intelligent Specialization.

In a time of globalization of ways of life and increasing globalization of national economies, tourism has become an elementary dimension of western modernity and expanded spatial mobility, this, a condition of life and a way of being in contemporary times. We are heirs of a tradition in which travel has become unavoidable factors in the constitution of nationality and in the affirmation of European identity, or even in the very nature of insularity. For a long time, the Azores region was simultaneously a place of transit and supply; thus a transoceanic hub strategically located to welcome travelers from all over the world.

The social categories that make up the demand have diversified and give expression to the current international trends in the markets. Unequivocally, within the global dynamics, Senior tourism constitutes a segment in strong expansion, endowed with substantial income that has required an unparalleled allocation of resources. Its specificity has not always been recognized within the tourism sector in general and research in particular.

The increase in demand for the Azores destination, in Senior demand, requires effective knowledge that allows an adaptation of the offer of initiatives, actions, programs, that is, the products placed available to this type of public, which is considered on a standalone basis, lacking any specificity that allows maximizing the efficiency of the actions undertaken and the investments to meet their satisfaction.

In electing the senior tourism segment, we seek to respond to the institutional concerns of several international bodies that have chosen the promotion of active aging and solidarity between generations as major objectives capable of guiding priorities for research and to encourage various initiatives in the development of products and services with a sense of concern for the well-being of these populations. In this sense, the present study aims, ultimately, at the development of programmatic models of actions/initiatives, which will last from 5 to 8 days, with their own content and playful-expressive activities, suitable for the promotion of health and well-being. and with the greatest possible adaptability to the type of Senior public in its different valences, limitations and needs, resulting in added value for the Region with possibilities of being replicated on a wider scale. The need to provide stimulating content to actions from reception, follow-up and monitoring of all activities for this population segment, can only be supported by an interdisciplinary research process. Specifically, of a multidisciplinary nature, the research team formed includes highly qualified elements both in the fields of aging and tourism, in addition to psychology/gerontology, economics, sociology, ecology and statistics that we believe to be added value within a project that, by its nature, it requires the concertation of research practices and the mobilization of knowledge that complement each other to achieve the research objectives. The main objective being the design, structuring and development of a promotional product of sequenced actions and initiatives that integrate artisanal, gastronomic, cultural and environmental activities in an articulated and programmatic framework that configures an occupational itinerary that meets the needs of health and well-being. -being of the elderly person. In methodological terms, the present study uses the multisite method and multivariate analysis, taking place in two stages or two complementary studies:

Study 1 focuses on conducting a questionnaire survey to a decentralized sample in 4 locations, selected according to their relevance to the archipelago: Lisbon, East Coast of the United States and Toronto in Canada in addition to S. Miguel, Terceira and Faial. The present research is predominantly quantitative and involves the construction of a survey instrument with standardized factors and dimensions capable of evaluating the attitudes, appetites, motivations, expectations and requests of the senior tourism public over 55 years of age.< /p>

Study 2 will be developed with agents, promoters and privileged actors that in the tourism sector have relevant information, both in terms of specialized knowledge and in terms of perception of the state and trends senior tourism in the sector as a whole. The consultation of the main actors involved will require a more qualitative methodology, being carried out by the implementation of in-depth interviews that will be dealt with according to a content analysis and the creation of comprehensive/interpretative categories that can provide us with material that is otherwise unattainable. .

• Creation of a Senior Tourism and Welfare Cultural Product for the Azores Destination;
• Creation of a Web page and a facebook Tu-senior + 55;
• Organization of a Congress on Senior Tourism;
• Participation in regional, national and international scientific events with a view to disseminating the scientific results of the project;
• National and international publications with the results of the two project studies;
• Building the e-book with the results of the Project;
• Implementation of networking between local, national and international partners.