Push and Pull Factors of Senior Travelers: The Lingering Influence of Past Restrictions

Sa？etak Purpose – The paper analyzes push and pull motivations of senior travelers who have experienced externally imposed travel restrictions earlier in life. Design/Methodology/Approach – This study is designed to measure push and pull factors of senior travelers, together with positive and negative effects among the respondents who have experienced travel restrictions in their past. The exploration of lingering effects from previous travel restrictions is based on the comparison of findings with prior studies, conducted in environments that did not include the contextual factor of previous travel restrictions. In order to enable the comparison, a selected study is followed by using similar methodological and analytical approaches (e.g. survey sample and methods of analysis). This kind of analysis allowed discovering differences in findings that can be attributed to the lingering effects of past restrictions on travel and that still influence motivations of current senior travelers. The survey was conducted in Lithuania, a country with a memory of historical restrictions on traveling, rather typical of many countries of Eastern Europe and several others in other parts of the world. Findings and implications – The study found that the lingering effects of past restrictions on travel influences current motivations of senior travelers; thus, their motivations differ from those of senior travelers coming from the countries in which there were no travel restrictions in the past. Specifically, the differences include increased importance of travel cost and of personal ego enhancement, and lower sensitivity to comfort. Limitations – Although the study is based on a sample drawn from one country (Lithuania), the findings may be extended to other countries of Central and Eastern Europe sharing similar historical conditions, especially in terms of travel restrictions in the past. Originality – The study investigates the unique contextual factor of travel restrictions in travel motivations analysis, and shows the specificity of motivational effects in the countries which experienced past travel restrictions