老年人旅游时间分配影响研究——文化差异视角

A Study of the Factors Influencing Time Allocation in Tourism for the Elderly:A Perspective Based on Cultural Differences

银发旅游一直是学术界研究的热点,但少有研究从时间分配角度探析收入和闲暇时间这两个旅游必备条件对老年旅游的影响。老年群体的时间分配存在跨国差异,文化是造成这一差异的一个重要因素。文章利用跨国时间使用数据(multinational time use study,MTUS),运用Becker时间分配理论和Hofstede文化维度,以西方国家老年群体(65岁及以上)为研究对象,采用回归分析和工具变量法,考察了收入和闲暇时间对老年人旅游时间分配的影响机制,并验证了国家文化差异的调节效应。结果表明,收入和闲暇时间对老年人旅游时间分配影响显著。较之收入,闲暇时间对老年人旅游时间分配的影响作用更大。国家文化差异对收入和闲暇时间与老年人旅游时间分配的关系起调节作用。研究结果有助于旅游管理者进一步认识不同国家老年人旅游行为特征,对老年旅游市场开发和营销策略具有一定指导意义。

The aging of populations has become a global trend,which brings great challenges to the quality of life of the elderly,and improving the quality of life of the elderly has gradually become the focus of attention.Tourism is seen as a useful activity to improve the quality of life and enhance the happiness of the elderly.Most scholars believe that retired the elderly,with their abundant income and leisure time,have a high desire to travel and are the most eligible group for travel.At the global scale,the elderly increasingly have the ability to spend on tourism and are important participants in tourism.The silver-haired tourism market has broad prospects for development,and this field has always been an essential topic in academic research.Tourism is a typical leisure activity,tourism decision-making is significantly constrained by individual leisure time,and individuals with more leisure time have the basic conditions for tourism.It can be seen that tourism decision-making involves time allocation behavior.Previous applications of Becker’s time allocation theory have focused on issues related to labor market time allocation,caregiving and intra-household time allocation,and there is a lack of systematic research related to the allocation of travel time.Many studies have confirmed that income and leisure time are the most important tourism constraints;however,few studies have investigated the impact of income and leisure time on tourism for the elderly from a time allocation perspective.Cross-country differences prevail in time allocation for elderly groups,and culture is a vital factor in this difference,but there has been no detailed discussion or research work on how culture affects the differences in time allocation for elderly groups among countries,nor has there been any systematic research on how cultural differences affect tourism for the elderly.This paper fills these two research gaps to understand better the similarities and differences in the allocation of travel time for the elderly under different cultural characteristics.Based on the multinational time use study(MTUS)data,this study adopts Becker’s time allocation theory and Hofstede’s cultural dimension to examine the elderly(≥65 years old)in Western countries.Moreover,it employs regression analysis and the instrumental variable method to investigate the influence of income and leisure time on travel time allocation for the elderly and verifies the moderating effect of national cultural differences.The study results revealed that income and leisure time have a significant impact on travel time allocation for the elderly;when compared with income,leisure time has a greater impact on travel time allocation for the elderly.National cultural differences play a moderating role in the relationship between income and leisure time and travel time allocation for the elderly,thereby confirming that there are differences in travel time distribution among the elderly in different national cultures.Thus,these results will aid tourism managers to deepen their understanding of the characteristics of tourism behaviors of the elderly in different countries and help develop and formulate the marketing strategies of the tourism market for the elderly.