Many Chinese cities have introduced elderly-friendly services, including elderly care-integrated tourism and smart facilities for convenient travel, in order to further boost consumption with the silver economy as a new engine. At Meixin Wine Town, a national 4A scenic spot in southwest China's Chongqing Municipality, an increasing number of elderly people opt to stay longer rather than just visiting as tourists. The nursing home at this scenic spot, therefore, has introduced family suites and parent-child suites this year, enabling families to enjoy a vacation while accompanying their parents. According to the person in charge of the nursing home, elderly residents can visit the scenic spot for free, and their family members qualify for discounts. Currently, the nursing home has maintained an occupancy rate of over 95 percent. "I've accompanied my mom to visit many attractions and took a sightseeing train ride. I will stay here with mom tonight. We had a great time," said Mei Zhen, a tourist. Many cities also are leveraging scientific technology to enhance their supporting facilities, in order to better implement elderly-friendly services. In Zhongwei City, northwest China's Ningxia Hui Autonomous Region, smart health monitoring devices are available on all tour buses at major attractions, including first aid kits and heart rate monitors. In Shanghai, numerous old telephone booths have been renovated to provide elderly-friendly services, including one-click taxi calling, pension inquiries, and convenient medical services while preserving traditional calling functions. An online cultural and tourism platform introduced by Yangzhou City in east China's Jiangsu Province features an AI-powered virtual human providing accessibility services. It can also help plan personalized trave itineraries according to a user's age and preferences.
"The interface (of the platform) is very clean, making it easy for us elderly to use without straining our eyes," said a tourist from central China's Hubei Province. According to the data from the China National Committee on Ageing, the percentage of elderly tourists has surpassed 20 percent of the total national tourist population. Senior tourism is transitioning from a niche market to a mainstream market. The big data from the Chinese online travel platform Qunar shows that the total number of attraction tickets booked by elderly tourists has increased by over 30 percent year on year since the beginning of this year. A report on the development of China's silver economy has revealed that the current scale of the sector is about 7 trillion yuan (around 960 billion U.S. dollars), representing about 6 percent of the country's GDP. By 2035, the silver economy in China is projected to reach 30 trillion yuan (around 4 trillion U.S. dollars), accounting for 10 percent of the GDP.
China to boost consumption with elderly-friendly services
