The Ageing Revolution: How to Reach the Fastest-Growing Customer Segment

A polished floor, a beautifully set white table, and a digital menu might signal contemporary hospitality. For some older guests, however, they can become unexpected barriers.

A highly reflective floor may appear wet. A white plate on a white tablecloth can be difficult to distinguish for someone experiencing changes in visual perception. A QR-code-only menu may turn a simple restaurant visit into an exercise in frustration.

These are some of the examples highlighted by Dr. Paola Ossola, Head of Research and Associate Professor at César Ritz Colleges Switzerland, whose work examines how an ageing population is reshaping hospitality and tourism.

Her central argument is straightforward: older customers can no longer be treated as a niche market.

The Customer Hospitality Can No Longer Overlook

By 2030, one in every six people worldwide will be aged 60 or over. By 2050, this population is expected to reach 2.1 billion, while the number of people aged 80 and above will have more than tripled since 2020.

For hotels, restaurants, destinations, and tourism providers, the implications extend far beyond installing ramps or adding a "senior" package. They require the industry to reconsider how experiences are designed, how employees are trained, and even what excellent service means.

Older travelers already accounted for 22% of all tourism nights taken by EU residents in 2024, and they are particularly valuable to an industry looking to reduce its reliance on the summer peak. Tourists aged 65 and over spend more of their tourism nights during the quieter months of spring and autumn than younger travelers.

But describing everyone over 60 as a single customer segment creates another problem. A healthy and active 65-year-old, an 85-year-old with reduced mobility, and someone living with dementia may have very different expectations and requirements.

Ageing Does Not Follow A Standard Customer Profile

Ossola believes the industry needs to move beyond assumptions about what aging means for guests.

The industry needs to understand older guests as individuals rather than automatically associating age with dependence or decline. 

Many may be experienced travelers with time, purchasing power, and a strong desire to remain active. 

The question is not simply whether a business is accessible. It is whether every part of the experience allows people to retain their confidence, independence, and dignity.

When Good Design Becomes A Barrier

Hospitality businesses are accustomed to considering how a space looks. They may be less practiced at examining how that same space is perceived.

During her research and teaching, Ossola has explored how seemingly minor design choices can create significant obstacles. Some are physical: long corridors without seating, heavy doors, steps, slippery surfaces, or hard-to-navigate bathrooms. Others are sensory or cognitive and therefore easier to miss.

For a person experiencing certain forms of dementia or changes in visual perception, highly reflective flooring can look like water, and they may refuse to enter the space.

When the tablecloth, plate, and food are all pale, their outlines may merge. Noise, poor lighting, small print, complicated signage, and unfamiliar terminology add further layers of difficulty.

None of these examples suggests that hospitality spaces should resemble healthcare facilities. In many cases, the most effective changes are also hallmarks of good design: clear contrast, intuitive layouts, comfortable seating, appropriate lighting, good acoustics, readable information, and staff who allow guests time to respond.

The strongest age-friendly design may be the kind that nobody recognizes as being specifically designed for older people.

What Does A Menu Taste Like At 75?

Ageing can also change the way a guest experiences food.

Taste and smell may become less acute over time, while medications and health conditions can alter appetite and flavor perception. A dish that tastes carefully balanced to the chef may seem muted to the person eating it.

Hospitality employees often notice older diners asking for meals to be hotter or needing more salt. Such requests may look like personal preference, but when they recur across a dining room, they point to a broader sensory change.

The answer is not to create a generic "senior menu" filled with bland or overly simplified food. That would replace one misunderstanding with another.

Restaurants could instead offer greater flexibility: adaptable portions, clear nutritional and allergen information, a choice of textures, and ways to enhance flavor and aroma without relying exclusively on salt or sugar. 

Staff should also feel comfortable asking why a dish has been left untouched rather than assuming that the guest simply did not like it.

Research by Ossola and her colleague Dr. Giuseppina Menconi has examined how artificial intelligence might eventually help restaurants support healthier eating as people age. Personalized recommendations and intelligent digital menus could help customers identify dishes suited to their dietary requirements, health objectives, allergies, and personal preferences.

The potential is considerable, but so is the risk of designing technology around assumptions. Older consumers are often depicted as resistant to digital tools when, in reality, their experience and confidence vary as widely as those of any other generation.

A sophisticated app may suit one guest. Another may prefer a clearly printed menu and a conversation with a knowledgeable staff member. Inclusive hospitality does not force everyone through the same channel.

Accessibility Is More Than Architecture

Much of the traditional discussion around accessible tourism has focused on physical infrastructure. Ramps, lifts, handrails, accessible rooms, and low-floor transport remain essential, but research increasingly shows that age-friendly hospitality cannot be reduced to a checklist.

A recent study of older adults' lived experiences of travel found barriers across physical, cognitive, emotional, and social dimensions. Participants described fatigue, inaccessible layouts, crowding, confusing wayfinding, language difficulties, and anxiety in unfamiliar settings, yet also showed considerable independence, carefully planning trips and pacing itineraries to stay active.

The distinction matters. Older travelers are not passive recipients waiting to be looked after. They are active participants who want services that enable them to make their own decisions.

This shifts the focus from providing "special treatment" to removing unnecessary barriers built into mainstream experiences: 

• ground-floor rooms as a standard preference 
• seating along walking routes
•  printed and digital information side by side 
• employees trained to ask before stepping in 

Accessibility, viewed in this way, is not a separate feature of hospitality. It is part of service quality.

Preparing For Guests Living With Dementia

Worldwide, approximately 57 million people were living with dementia in 2021, with nearly 10 million new cases occurring every year. Hence, hospitality and tourism businesses will increasingly welcome guests living with cognitive impairment as well as the relatives, friends, and caregivers traveling with them.

While hospitality employees are not expected to be medical experts, they can, however, be prepared.

Dementia-friendly service may involve speaking calmly, giving one piece of information at a time, allowing extra time to respond, and avoiding confrontation when a guest appears confused. Employees should continue addressing the guest directly rather than automatically speaking to their companion.

The environment also plays a role. Clear signs, recognizable landmarks, strong visual contrast, quieter spaces, and simple routes can reduce anxiety. Patterns that resemble holes or steps, reflective surfaces, and confusing mirrors may have the opposite effect.

The same care should extend to caregivers. Travel and dining can provide valuable moments of connection and enjoyment, but they may also involve constant planning and responsibility. A flexible, observant hospitality team can make the difference between an experience that feels manageable and one that has to be abandoned.

Travel Can Help People Age Well

Travel itself may contribute to healthier and more meaningful ageing.

Research involving senior tourists has identified six forms of value associated with tourism: enjoyment, connectedness, mental vitality, independence, a sense of belonging, and self-esteem.

A trip can provide physical activity, cognitive stimulation, social interaction, and the chance to try something unfamiliar. It can help people maintain relationships and continue seeing themselves as curious, capable participants in society.

This challenges the idea that age-friendly tourism is primarily a story of limitation. It is equally a story of opportunity.

Hotels, restaurants, attractions, and destinations can create environments that make continued participation possible. The benefit is not simply commercial. Hospitality can contribute to social connection, wellbeing, and quality of life - all while serving a substantial and growing market.

Five questions hospitality businesses should ask now

The first steps toward becoming more age-friendly do not necessarily require a major renovation. They begin with looking at the experience through a different lens.

1. Can guests navigate the entire experience independently? Consider booking, arrival, signage, transport, corridors, seating, bathrooms, digital tools, and payment, not just the entrance.
2. Are we designing for individuals or for a stereotype? Age alone does not determine a person's health, mobility, interests, or confidence with technology.
3. Could our design choices create sensory or cognitive barriers? Review lighting, contrast, acoustics, reflective surfaces, menu design, and wayfinding alongside physical accessibility.
4. Do employees know how to offer assistance without removing autonomy? Staff should ask rather than assume, address the guest directly, and allow people sufficient time to make decisions.

5. Have older people helped us evaluate the experience? A technical audit can identify whether standards have been met. Lived experience reveals whether a service genuinely works.

    

Ageing Is Also Changing The Workforce

The demographic change taking place among customers is happening behind the scenes as well.

Hospitality employees are remaining in work for longer, raising questions about physical demands, scheduling, career sustainability, technology, and job design. At the same time, many employees balance their jobs with responsibilities for ageing parents or relatives.

This is one of four areas being investigated through the broader Hospitality and Tourism in an ageing Society research project at César Ritz Colleges. Alongside older consumers and inclusive service design, the project examines brain health and dementia-risk reduction, the ageing workforce, and employees with caregiving responsibilities.

Each area carries implications for the industry. How can physically demanding hospitality roles be redesigned to retain experienced employees? How can employers support staff managing caregiving alongside irregular schedules? What knowledge and experience might be lost if older employees leave because their roles no longer feel sustainable?

In a sector already facing persistent recruitment and retention challenges, these are workforce questions the industry cannot afford to postpone.

Research With An Industry Purpose

The Ageing society project is one of several research initiatives being undertaken by faculty members and associates at César Ritz Colleges Switzerland.

The school's institutional accreditation under Swiss federal law as a University of Applied Sciences Institute provides a formal foundation for research alongside teaching and academic service. It supports research structures, ethical oversight, academic collaboration, and opportunities to translate findings into practical recommendations for hospitality, tourism, and service organizations.

That applied focus is particularly important in a field such as ageing, where many of the most pressing industry questions remain insufficiently explored.

Ossola is also bringing the discussion into the classroom. Students have previously assessed accessibility in the city of Brig and participated in simulations designed to help them understand how changes in vision, hearing, and movement can affect a hospitality experience. Other students are developing business ideas connected to an Ageing population through an international innovation challenge.

In October, Ossola will lead a César Ritz Colleges Research Colloquium on Hospitality and Tourism in an Ageing Society: Dementia, Caregiving and Brain Health. The session forms part of a wider colloquia series in which students and faculty members examine emerging research, challenge ideas, and consider their implications for academia and industry.

It is also an invitation to continue the work. Students, faculty members, research fellows, visiting scholars, and industry partners can connect with César Ritz Colleges to contribute to an existing research stream, develop a student project, explore an industry collaboration, or investigate a research idea of their own.

The ageing revolution is already underway. The businesses best prepared for it will not be those that simply add a "senior" package to an existing offer. They will be the ones that listen more closely, design more intelligently, and understand that dignity, autonomy, and meaningful participation are fundamental elements of excellent hospitality at every age.

Frequently Asked Questions

What is the silver economy?

The silver economy is the market of goods, services, and experiences built around people aged 50 and over, including travel, hospitality, health, and leisure. As this group grows and holds significant spending power, it is becoming one of the most important segments for the tourism and hospitality industry.

What is the difference between senior tourism, silver tourism, and age-friendly tourism?

Senior tourism and silver tourism both describe travel by older adults as a market segment. Age-friendly tourism is broader: it describes designing services so people of any age, including older guests, can participate fully. The first two name the customer; the third names the design approach.

Do older travelers spend more than younger travelers?

Older travelers often have more disposable income and more time, and they tend to travel outside peak season and take longer trips. That combination makes them especially valuable to hotels and destinations trying to fill quieter spring and autumn periods.

What is ageism in hospitality and tourism?

Ageism is prejudice or stereotyping based on a person's age. In hospitality, it can mean assuming every older guest is frail, less tech-confident, or uninterested in new experiences. Treating older customers as individuals, rather than by age, is central to serving them well.