Periódico: Journal of Tourism and Heritage Research
Fonte: Journal of Tourism and Heritage Research; Vol 4 No 2 (2021): Journal of Tourism and Heritage Research; 68-80
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Resumo:
The recognition of the potential of senior tourism has manifested not only in an increase in the know-how related to this market but also in an increase in knowledge about the cultural and tourist dynamics it develops, the creation of new products and the developments of the sector. Much like senior tourism, senior universities have gained a progressively higher role in contemporary life. They are the reflection of paradigm shifts into what constitutes the senior adult, allowing for various practice-oriented activities to senior tourism. Innovative didactical approaches have tried to keep up with the increasing access to information, since the demographic shifts, allied with globalization and current socio-economic trends cast new challenges to education and life-long learning. Senior universities should then be understood as mechanisms of social intervention. The current (re)configuration that exists between tourism and senior university seeks to promote the quality of life of the participants in these activities, contributing for social inclusion of the population in territorial development. The need to understand senior tourism in what respects their motivations, finds its greater momentum in those places where senior tourists appropriate the “cultural and tourist atmosphere” through experiences built around historical and cultural elements. This paper seeks then, to relate the practice of tourism and senior universities, reaffirming touristic education for a sustainable, local and global development.
