‘Get us off the bus’

It seems that the mantra of many older travellers is “get me off this bus” They seem to be done with sedate travelling which is deemed “suitable for old people”.

This is the view of Lodewyk de Klerk, who runs a touring business in Cape Town and who also has business interests in the Oudtshoorn area.

“Older travellers are as interested in adventure tourism as the younger generation. Quite a number of our older clients declare that they would gladly have taken part in adrenaline-driven adventures, such as skydiving, abseiling or rock climbing, if only they were a bit younger. Although they cannot quite go wild like the younger generation, they definitely want to get out of the tour bus and take part more actively.”

Tourists who take part in the tours and safaris are usually over 50 but many also up 70 or 80 years old, because people over 50 have more time and money.

A holiday in the Garden Route, where they can indeed get out of the tour bus and participate in an adventure that would allow them to be more actively involved would, of course, satisfy their need to be more active instead of sitting in a bus.

“Unfortunately, the tourism industry basically ignores older people when advertising adventure tourism to the younger generation,” said De Klerk. “All the older travellers need is a different approach that will make them feel safe.”

According to De Klerk, the elderly tourist would for instance like to participate in an activity they could do in tandem with an instructor or tour guide, such as skydiving, parachuting, horse riding, zip lining, mountain climbing, 4x4 adventures, cage diving with sharks or even snorkeling with seals as long as there is someone in attendance who can take charge if necessary if the new and challenging adventure becomes a bit overwhelming.

De Klerk says there is a definite niche market for adventure for the older generation. “Adventure tourism operators will do themselves a favour to market specific activities to these tourists and to be prepared to go a little extra way to provide safe alternatives, such as tandem bikes, kayaks and zip lines with safety chairs instead of harnesses.

Those precautions will make these visitors, who constitute most of our overseas visitors, feel safe while having an adventure of a lifetime.”

Antoinette de Klerk, Lodewyk de Klerk’s mother, recently proved the point that older people still want adventure by zipping down the zip line at Cango Caves Estate.