Age and life-stage

Age is the most commonly used characteristic for dividing total markets into smaller segments. It is often very easy for tourism and hospitality organisations to classify their customers using age categorisations.

Linked to age is the stage in the family lifecyle – or party composition (for example, families, couples, retirees etc.). Families with young children have very different requirements from a holiday than young singles, even if they are in the same broad age range. The extent to which different age groups and life-stages can be accommodated together can vary considerably across different tourism and hospitality services. In some tourism and hospitality service situations it is not possible to segment either by age or life-stage. For example transport services are used by a wide range of age groups and life stages. The package holiday market however, is heavily age segmented. Because of the social nature of the experience, it is common for tour operators to package their holidays based on age and life-stage variables People want to share their holiday with likeminded others. Age and life stage segmentation therefore form the basis of some popular and well-known companies and brands such as ‘2wenties’ and ‘Club 18-30’ for the ‘youth’ market and ‘Saga’ holidays for the over 55s.