A comparison of Maltese outbound tourism expenditure habits for leisure purposes within Europe : Gen X vs Gen Y

Abstract

Although tourism is known as one of the fastest growing industries, as well as an increasingly popular phenomenon around the world, one can only come across a limited amount of research focusing mainly on Maltese travellers in the past. An increasing number of studies are currently being carried out so as to anticipate consumers’ needs when they are abroad, however there is little to no research specified for Maltese outbound tourism.

Consequently, this research entitled “A comparison of Maltese outbound tourism spending habits for leisure purposes within Europe: Gen X vs Gen Y” aims to explore different Maltese spending patterns, based on their differences in age; whether one generation has a higher tendency to spend a more (or less) significant percentage of their disposable income on certain activities than the other, such as accommodation, transportation, entertainment, souvenirs or food and beverage. This study is also subject to their travel party size; whether travelling alone, as a couple or with a group of friends or family.

Since this research focuses on Maltese outbound tourism, only Maltese citizens residing in Malta, who have travelled within Europe for relaxation and leisure purposes within the last year will be requested to participate in the study. An online survey is being distributed on a Facebook group called ‘RUBS Travel’. The answers acquired are then used for analysis; using SPSS, the age of the respondents is cross tabulated against each spending pattern. Long unstructured interviews are also conducted with travel agencies’ representatives so as to analyze tourists’ expenditure patterns who travel with travel agencies.

The objective of this study is to analyze expenditure patterns depending on the tourists’ age. It is assumed that Gen X spends more whilst they are abroad, however the percentages are used to understand which of the factors they tend to spend more or less on, when compared to Gen Y. Through this study, travel agencies could become

more aware of their customers’ preferences, and target their audience accordingly. Through a combination of in-depth analysis of the data and previous studies, the study aims at providing a better insight and shed some light on Maltese outbound tourism.

Results show that certain factors, such as transportation, accommodation are in fact affected by the tourists’ age. Only one travel agency, namely YTC, notices a difference in their customer base; their relaxing summer holidays usually attract the older generation, whereas their sporty winter destination packages tend to attract the younger generation.

Some of the information used throughout this study could be of assistance to other studies; one could analyze tourist expenditure patterns against tourists’ annual income.