The Silver Economy is connected to the demographic trends in Europe, the effects on older adults’ quality of life and on the wider EU economy. The Silver Economy can be defined as the economic opportunities arising from the public and consumer expenditure related to population ageing and the specific needs of the population over 50. On average older people spend 18-20 years in retirement, therefore needing new life contents, new cognitive and emotional challenges, up-to-date information as to actively participate in this Silver Economy, in order to remain included in Society. Silver Tourism will also help balance the seasonality effect in Europe, since most of the older people are no longer on the labour market, having opportunity to enjoy their leisure time on medium and low season. According to the Tourism Trends and Ageing the share of different age groups in tourism of EU residents and in the EU population aged 15 years or over, tourists aged 65 or over accounted for nearly 1 in 4 tourism nights for private purposes spent, when compared with the share of EU residents aged 15 or over. The data obtained was equal to this age group’s share in the population aged 15+ (24 %). However, when looking at the broader group of tourists aged 55 or over, the gap increased by 2 % as people aged 55+ accounted for 41 % of tourism nights for private purposes while their share in the population aged 15+ was 39 % (Eurostat, 2018). The aim of the eSilver Tour is to develop Digital Marketing competences in seniors organisations staff and tourism professionals to answer the real tourism needs of senior people, by addressing the psychosocial and physical needs of older travellers and their expectations, as to identify and overcome the well embedded stereotypes about older people as being passive, less ambitious, less interested, less knowledgeable, less vital, and in need of rest. This VET course must develop the technological know-how to answer the increasing use of the Internet as a way not only communicate but, essentially, to negotiate on the tourism market. The partnership brings together 6 organisations from France, Portugal, Spain, Lithuania and Greece. They were chosen based on their expertise facing the main objectives defined for the eSilver Tour and taking into account the specific know-how and experience required, as Silver Tourism, Digital Marketing, Active Ageing, and by the desirable interaction between inclusive and adapted ICTs (e-Seniors/FR), vocational training (AidLearn/PT), VET evaluation and assessment (EOLAS/ES), seniors organisations (50+Hellas/EL), tourism organisations (CTP/PT) and experience in assisting and supporting learning innovative product development (Kaunas STP/LT). Transversely, Project Management (PM) is lead by e-Seniors . Under PM there will be a set of Dissemination Activities (led by Kaunas STP) and Project Evaluation & Quality Assurance (led by EOLAS). The eSilver Tour project is structured in 3 IOs: O1: Professional Profile of the eSilver Tourism Expert: analysis of Silver Tourism, Tourism Digital Marketing and the competencies for Active Ageing. Led by e-Seniors. O2: eSilver Tour B-Learning Content: developing a learning package and contents for eSilver Tour innovative blended course in Digital Marketing for Silver Tourism and Active Ageing through meeting the needs of seniors organizations staff and tourism professionals, thus expecting to be meaningful from a pedagogical point of view. Led by 50+ Hellas. O3: eSilver Tour Platform/Website: creating a high quality learning tool, user-friendly and visually attractive, incorporating the B-Learning Content into the platform; performing pilot actions with senior organisations’ staff and tourism professionals for validation purposes; doing the improvements resulting of validation moments; generalisation andmultiplication of eSilver Tour products through speeding out information on the project and its results for the target-audience and other interested stakeholders. Led by AidLearn. The methodology used in eSilver Tour implementation is TeamWork (all partners are involved in all activities and IOs according to their expertise), so teambuilding is crucial from the start. The involvement of the target group is important in all dissemination activities, and involvement of seniors and tourism organisations in assessing the results when they are finalised is essential to guarantee the adequacy to target group. The eSilver Tour combines, in an innovative way, the continuous vocational training (C-VET) of the organisations staff and tourism professionals to develop competencies of Digital Marketing specifically for Silver Tourism market, resulting in the increase in seniors participation in tourism activities by promoting more affordable products, while contributing to the creation/maintenance of employment in the tourism sector on medium and low season by fostering more affordable tourism offers for the senior population.
L'objectif du projet eSilver Tour est de développer les compétences en marketing numérique du personnel des organisations de seniors et des professionnels du tourisme afin de répondre aux besoins touristiques réels des seniors, en tenant compte des besoins psychosociaux et physiques des voyageurs âgés et de leurs attentes, ainsi que d'identifier et de surmonter les stéréotypes bien ancrés sur les personnes âgées comme étant passives, moins ambitieuses, moins intéressées, moins bien informées, moins vitales et ayant besoin de se reposer. Cette formation professionnelle doit développer le savoir-faire technologique pour répondre à l'utilisation croissante d'Internet comme moyen non seulement de communication mais aussi, essentiellement, de négociation sur le marché du tourisme.
L'économie des seniors ("Silver Economy") est liée aux tendances démographiques en Europe, aux effets sur la qualité de vie des personnes âgées et sur l'économie européenne au sens large. Elle peut être définie comme les opportunités économiques découlant des dépenses publiques et des dépenses de consommation liées au vieillissement de la population et aux besoins spécifiques de la population de plus de 50 ans. Les personnes âgées passent en moyenne 18 à 20 ans à la retraite et ont donc besoin de nouveaux contenus de vie, de nouveaux défis cognitifs et émotionnels, d'informations actualisées pour participer activement à cette économie des seniors, afin de rester inclus dans la société. Le tourisme des seniors contribuera également à équilibrer l'effet de saisonnalité en Europe, puisque la plupart des personnes âgées ne sont plus sur le marché du travail et ont la possibilité de profiter de leur temps libre en moyenne et basse saison.