Retirement and tourism Themes in retirees’ narratives

This article examines central themes in traveling retirees’ perceptions of tourism and travel. It aims to understand the place and value of tourism in retirement. The study described in this article focused on relatively recent retirees, and utilized in-depth semi-structured interviews with a purposive sample of 20 male and female retirees involved in a “Learning in Retirement” program in a mid-sized southeastern U.S. city. Results identified five themes, associating post retirement tourism not only with the new life phase, but also with lifelong interests, leisure activities, retirees’ social networks and perceived constraints. These findings are discussed in light of general theories of adaptation and aging.