For Baby boomers Travel is Their Top Dream

An AARP national telephone survey of 29,000 babyboomers recently asked people to describe their “top dream.”Not Surprisingly, it was to travel. Two out of five older adults said that vacation and travel was their top dream, ranked above hobbies and interests (15 percent); kids, grandkids, family and friends (13 percent); faith and spirituality (6 percent); good health (6 percent); and career, job and work (5 percent).

A survey by the New York-based Focalyst found that more than 81 million older adults who were planning to travel in the next year planned to spend a total of $126 billion. This economic potential does not go unnoticed by the travel industry.

More than 100 million Americans today are age 45 or older, their households accounting for 91 percent of America’s net worth. This group represents the largest, fastest growing, richest consumer market on the planet, accounting for half of Earth’s consumer spending.

Research of older adults has resulted in the shattering of some stereotypes. Boomers are the wealthiest generation in history, and even though only 9 percent are truly affluent – defined as having pretax incomes of $150,000 or more if working, or $100,000 or more if retired – this 9 percent will transform travel as we know it.

Americans have become the top international tourists abroad. In about half of all international traveling, Americans end up in Western Europe and of these, one in five go to Britain, and equally to France and Germany