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The world’s 90 million post-war baby boomers set the stage for some very fruitful international marketing efforts in adventure travel and educational or discovery tourism in the 21st century. Canada, Australia, New Zealand and the United States (the CANZUS countries) have post-Second World War baby-boom generations that together form a cohesive and attractive potential market. But will international tourism marketers recognise that, as baby boomers in the CANZUS populations arrive at their peak earnings and savings years and approach retirement, they present a 21st-century challenge for new product development and marketing strategy in international tourism? This paper profiles three key segments of baby boomers in the CANZUS populations that have the highest likelihood of travelling to discover and learn for self-fulfilment in Australia, Canada, New Zealand and America and to experience soft and hard adventure in these countries. Since all four countries possess an abundance of natural and experiential tourism resources, some tourism product development and marketing strategies are proposed as well.

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This article focuses on consumer behavior research to better understand Australian baby boomer tourists, although the principles and methods behind this empirical study are equally applicable to the baby boomer tourism markets in the United States, Canada, and New Zealand, all of which experienced a major postwar baby boom. Lifestyle research, using both secondary and primary data, was the principal behavioral research approach enhanced with survey findings on the psychological motivation for vacation travel among baby boomers, as well as their vacation risk perceptions and travel patterns. Three prime-target baby boomer lifestyle segments were identified on the basis of their propensity for pleasure travel, and the three groups were profiled by their travel motivations, risk perceptions, and patterns. Distinct intergroup differences were found, which indicate a need to tailor the development and promotion of new tourism and hospitality products to each segment of boomers. The findings have relevance for marketing to North American baby boomers as well.