Gender and Differences in Travel Life Cycles

Abstract

This study examines life cycle travel patterns of outbound Australian travelers according to both gender and the purpose of travel. It finds that gender is a major influence on travel demand. Life cycle travel patterns for men and women vary considerably according to the purpose of travel. All age-related travel functions were unimodal (one mode or peak), except for travel for holiday purposes, which had two peaks. It was found that men tended to travel more often than women for business and work-related travel, but women traveled more often for leisure purposes, including travel to visit friends and relatives. Gender differences in the peak age for travel only existed in business and work-related travel, with travel for women tending to peak earlier than travel for men. Therefore, the purpose of travel and gender are important factors that need to be considered when predicting the long-term demand for travel.