老骥伏枥:中国老年“房车游牧族”群体形成机制初探

A Preliminary Study on the Development of the Population of“Recreational Vehicle Nomads”among China’s Seniors

中国老年旅游人数快速增长,部分老年人开始选择房车旅行。这种旅行方式既有家的安全,又保证了探索的自由,中国老年"房车游牧族"群体日益增多,但目前针对该群体的研究在国内鲜有见者。文章基于旅行生涯梯度、积极老龄化等相关理论基础,采用文本分析方法,从核心发生层面、主观驱动力层面和客观吸引力层面探讨中国老年"房车游牧族"群体的形成机制。通过既定内容的定性分析程序对案例的视频采访资料进行分析发现,中国老年人房车旅行逐渐从"出游方式"变为"旅行生活",老年参与群体则从"房车用户"变为"房车游牧族",房车旅行表达了老年人安全探索和自我实现的渴望,是催生老年人房车旅行的内在动力,并受到个体因素与中国社会文化环境的综合影响,而完成高阶探索、保持旅行效果和对时间的焦虑等又促使中国老年人将房车旅行进一步付诸为持续且变化的"房车游牧"行为。

As the number of seniors traveling throughout China has rapidly grown, increasing numbers of seniors began to choose recreational vehicle(RV) as a means of travel. RV not only offer the feeling of“the safety of home”but they also offer“freedom of exploration”, and broader options than other travel modalities. This case study found that RV travel by seniors in China has gradually evolved from“a way of traveling”to“a way of life”. Meanwhile the populations of seniors participating in this lifestyle evolved from“RV users”to“RV nomads.”However, research on this population in China is still lacking. Using interdisciplinary research methods in fields such as tourism, gerontology and psychology, this study investigates and reveals the relationships between RV travel and senior citizens.Using psychological analysis, it further reveals the endogenous motivations and behavioral processes of RV nomads and applies behavioral description to reflect psychological aspects of their activities. By doing so, a new research framework for RV travel by seniors is developed that reveals the formation mechanism of this population. The framework further examines this social phenomenon from the levels of core occurrence, subjective driving force, and objective attraction, and helps to fill the gap between this field of research in China and in other countries. This research preliminarily analyzes RV nomads from among China’s senior population. Compared with other seniors, this population tends to be younger and most continue to lead active lives after retirement. They show a strong interest in exploring but also express a strong sense of family responsibility. Therefore, they exhibit characteristics of continuous and changing nomadism similar to those in the West, as well as clear family constraints.The results show that in the Chinese context, seniors participating in RV travel not only requires balancing individual needs and restrictions, but also is both restricted and supported by the social and cultural environment. The process of being an RV nomad typically involves three stages:“meeting a desire to travel”,“recognizing the value of the RV”and“continuously driving oneself”. This study shows that RV travel has a positive effect on seniors’ experience of aging, and elucidates the sociocultural trend towards seniors pursuing the development of their own personal values, which they practice as“RV life”. The results show that the positive effect of RV travel on the experience of aging is reflected in the senior’s satisfaction derived from“safe exploration”and“self-realization”. These elements constitute the internal driving force of RV travel, which is expressed as a continuous and changing“nomadic”behavior among senior RV enthusiasts. A further merit of this study lies in its theoretical combination and practical application of interdisciplinary research. It confirms the reliability of relevant theories and their applicability with respect to emerging phenomena, as well as presenting new ideas for interdisciplinary research in the field of senior tourism. This study not only bridges the research gap on the new phenomenon of senior RV travel in China, but also confirms the viability of research into similar social phenomena of foreign origin in the Chinese context. This is likely to lead to growth in domestic tourism research focused on other“new”phenomena in China.