Senior tourism constraints in Mexico: a sociocultural approach

Abstract

Research on senior tourism has been developed mainly in countries of the Global North and has considerably ignored the sociocultural contexts in which tourism constraints are configured. From a sociocultural perspective, this study explores senior tourism constraints in Mexico. Through in-depth interviews with 16 older people, it was revealed that interpersonal constraints are deeply associated with the meanings and cultural value of family in Mexico. Due to its centrality in Mexican culture, family functions as a fundamental factor in tourism motivations, experiences, constraints, and facilitators. It is concluded, on the one hand, that a chronological criterion is too restrictive to understand the tourist experiences of the elderly and, on the other, that sociocultural factors can play a central role in constraints on senior tourism.