1. The Generation Y Wellness Traveler: Marketing Implications Nancy M. Hritz, Ph.D. Cara L. Sidman, Ph.D. Michelle D’Abundo, Ph.D. University of North Carolina Wilmington

2. Introduction ~ Travel for health, fitness or wellness: New trends, but not a new idea

3. Introduction ~ Generation Y: General characteristics Travel characteristics Gen Y & marketing

4. Purpose of the study: To create a marketing profile of the Generation Y wellness traveler

5. Literature Review/background ~ Defining wellness tourism: Medical tourism Wellness and six dimensions Travel motivations: Push (internal) Pull (external)

6. Method: Survey instrument:  Perceived Wellness Survey (PWS)  Push/pull travel motivation statements (borrowed from Hallab 1999)

7. Analysis~ 315 Generation Y individuals from the southeastern area of the U.S. Exploratory factor analysis (EFA) of push/pull questions for data reduction K-means cluster analysis for marketing profile

8. Results~ Five distinct groups of the Gen Y Wellness Traveler:  Escapers (19.42%)  After Hours (16.83%)  Amenity Seekers (23.95%)  Most Unwell (16.18%)  Most Well (23.62%)

9. Conclusions – what does it all mean?  Relationship between push and pull factors  Connection between perceived wellness and travel choices  Socialization’s importance and non- importance  Amenity Seekers

10. Thank you~ Questions?