Meixin Elderly Care Center explores the "resort + home-style" model. (Photo/Meixin Elderly Care Center)

Chongqing - Located in the Chongqing Meixin Wine Town scenic area, the Meixin Elderly Care Center is the country's first scenic spot to feature an elderly travel community. It creates a new scene that integrates healthcare, tourism, entertainment, and social activities, exploring a new "resort + home-style" model, with an annual occupancy rate of 95 percent.

Due to the first phase offering only 500 beds, it's often fully booked. As a result, the second phase has already begun construction, and some rooms are already fully reserved, even though they are still under renovation.

Currently, the "silver economy" is becoming a significant driver of economic growth, with "silver tourism"—providing a high "happiness index" and "emotional value"—serving as a key pillar.

"We are ahead of the nation in adopting the 'resort + home-style' model. In fact, it happened almost by accident," said a representative from the Meixin Wine Town scenic area, to which Meixin Elderly Care Center belongs.

In 2005, the scenic area initially had a public welfare elderly care center during its construction. "As a developer of the scenic area, we didn't just relocate it, but instead innovatively upgraded it by adopting the 'resort + home-style' model," the representative explained.

Unlike traditional elderly care facilities, the upgraded Meixin Elderly Care Center has become the country's first scenic spot featuring an elderly travel community. The elderly residents are both visitors to the scenic area and the masters of the resort. They can dance with tourists in the ballroom, gather around a stove with tourists for tea, and even become life mentors, sharing their life stories with younger visitors.

"Traditional elderly care homes always feel gloomy, but here, the annual visitor reception is in several million, with the majority being young people. We get to see tourists from different places every day and chat with them. It makes me feel young again!" said Zhou Qiongfen, a resident at the facility.

She has also rehearsed many performances with other fellow residents here and participated in various activities and performances at the scenic area. "Life is fulfilling and happy."

Meanwhile, the center has not only helped the elderly regain social value but also created a new family consumption scene by offering family suites and encouraging relatives to visit in a vacation-style manner.

"Before, visiting parents felt like a task, but now the whole family comes to the scenic area to travel, stay, and enjoy the park. Visiting has turned into a family vacation, and we even get a discount," Zhou's son admitted.

"The 'resort + home-style' model here has created an ecosystem where family members spend more time with the elderly, truly making them happy," said Wang Li, who is in charge of Meixin Elderly Care Center.

Zhang Bin, a tour guide at a Chongqing travel agency, stated that in recent years, the elderly group has become a significant source of customers in the tourism market, particularly during off-peak seasons. At the same time, with changes in consumption concepts, the once price-sensitive senior tour groups have gradually shifted towards longer, more distant deep-tour and health tourism experience groups.

According to data from the China National Committee on Aging, elderly tourists now account for over 20 percent of the country's total tourism numbers, and elderly tourism is transitioning from a niche market to a mainstream one.

The China Tourism Academy's report on the development of elderly tourism and health travel in China also shows that in 2024, the number of elderly health tourism visits reached 120 million and is expected to reach 190 million by 2025. Elderly tourism has evolved from a welfare activity to a full-fledged tourism industry, transitioning from a niche market to the mainstream.

Data from China's online travel agency Ctrip reveals that over the past year, orders from users aged 50 and above have grown significantly, with an increase of more than 20 percent, and their average spending is three times that of younger users.

People pose for a photo amidst a sea of rapeseed flowers at Sanbanxi Park in Jiangbei District, Chongqing, on March 11, 2025. (Photo/Zhong Zhibing)

Personalized and diverse demands

From health and wellness travel to scenic tours, from group tours to independent and self-driving trips, from check-in sightseeing to in-depth experience, more and more elderly individuals are joining the tourism groups, not only driving the growth of the "silver tourism" market but also reshaping the tourism industry.

"Currently, elderly tourists generally have abundant time and strong purchasing capability. They are no longer satisfied with the traditional way of 'getting on the bus to sleep, getting off the bus to take photos,'" said Zhang Bin.

When it comes to travel time, elderly tourists tend to prefer off-peak travel, favoring destinations with fewer people and beautiful scenery. In terms of destination choice, they tend to lean towards leisurely themed tours, such as nature sightseeing, hot springs, cruises, and train journeys. In terms of services, elderly tourists are more concerned with the pace of the itinerary, the tour guide's explanation skills, transportation and accommodation conditions, the availability of medical services, and the provision of accessible facilities.

The China Tourism Academy's report reveals that the consumption characteristics of elderly tourists include: placing greater importance on the core values of tourism, with more elderly tourists choosing sightseeing and health tourism; placing more emphasis on the cultural connotation of tourism, preferring emotional interactions, cultural experiences, and educational activities during their travels, and having a particular fondness for historical or nostalgic tourism products; favoring professional travel services; relying more on public social services, with a well-established public service system being an essential prerequisite for the development of elderly tourism; and placing more importance on tourism experience exchanges, with information sources for elderly tourists often coming from personal recommendations by family, friends, and neighbors. Social network marketing has become a key approach in promoting elderly tourism.

Wang Xia, who lives in Chongqing's Yubei District and retired three years ago, traveled to western Sichuan by self-driving with three friends last month.

"I had been on a group tour to western Sichuan before, where we rushed through each scenic spot with very short stops, and the guide would take us to shopping spots, which wasn't a great experience. This time, we drove ourselves for 15 days, taking breaks and enjoying the journey—it was much more comfortable," he said.

"I've been retired for five years now, and I used to enjoy self-driving and independent travel. Last year, I went to Xinjiang with my daughter and chose a customized private tour. Although it cost a bit more, it was hassle-free, and I didn't have to worry about the details of the itinerary. The experience was fantastic. This summer, I plan to go to the northeast and will choose another customized tour," said Liu Xia, who lives in Yubei District.

Zhang Dawei, General Manager of Regional Government Affairs at Ctrip, stated that to capture the "silver tourism" market, regional tourism destinations must design more diversified and personalized products, such as health tourism, cultural tourism, rural tourism, and travel residences, to meet the slow travel demands of the elderly. At the same time, based on the elderly’s interests, health conditions, and other factors, tailor-made travel routes and services should be developed, such as high-quality "tourism + interest courses + cultural performances + social activities + competitions..." integrated products.

For scenic areas, resorts, and other cultural tourism venues, it is important to strengthen the "age-friendly" upgrades to both hardware and software, such as providing accessible facilities and emergency rescue services, to ensure the safety and comfort of the elderly during their travels, Zhang added.

"'Silver tourism' carries the elderly's yearning for 'poetry and distant places,' and it is a new hotspot for industry chain extension and cross-industry integration," said Luo Zibai, Chief Expert of the Yangtze River Tourism Research Base at the China Tourism Research Institute and Director of the Chongqing Tourism Development Research Center at Chongqing Normal University.

The booming development of the "silver tourism" market not only strengthens the tourism market but also promotes innovation and upgrades within the tourism industry. The tourism sector should vigorously build a tourism product and service system that is friendly to all ages, as well as a promotional discourse system and tourism market governance system. Taking health and wellness travel as an example, traditional tourism factors often overlook aspects such as medical insurance reimbursements, long-term care, or community interaction, yet these are necessities for travelers. Chongqing's cultural and tourism industry can explore these aspects, Luo noted.

(Chongqing Daily and Dai Xuelin, as an intern, contributed to this report.)