Rural tourism focused on the elderly adult in a parish of Quito, Ecuador

Abstract

The main objective of the article is to present the vision of an alternative that will allow the diversification of the tourist demand and encourage the local entrepreneur to improve and to adapt the benefits of his services focusing on the inclusion of the elder as a potential consumer of rural tourism of the parish of Lloa, for the later tourist promotion of the above mentioned locality. To this end, research was carried out through documentary review, which focused on the search for primary and secondary sources that define rural tourism and its components. Similarly, information was collected on the characteristics of the elderly and their participation in it. As a next step, a survey of the establishments that can be considered as providers of this type of tourism was carried out. Finally, interviews were applied to the owners of the selected establishments where they were asked about the visits made previously by older adults, their opinion regarding the services provided, the existence or not of inclusive facilities for this market segment and the predisposition of the owners to make future investments for the adaptation of the establishments if the case so warranted. The results obtained in this research represent the reality of the tourist and hotel establishments in the parish of Lloa with respect to rural tourism and the participation of the elderly.