Silver Economy and Hospitality 4 Good

The life expectancy of the world population is now 80 years in the EU, 77 in the US, and 76 in Latin America and the Caribbean. By 2030, the number of people aged 60 years and above will grow globally to 1.4 billion, outnumbering the total of children aged under 10 years (World Bank, 2022). According to ‘The Silver Economy’ report commissioned by EU (2018), the total number of over 50s in the EU, if grouped together, would be the third largest country in the world and the size of this economy continues to grow. Such demographic change will undoubtedly bring challenges and opportunities for the hospitality and tourism industry. This proposed roundtable session will lead to a timely discussion on the role of hospitality sector could play in addressing the global challenge of healthy ageing. It also intends to explore the new opportunities, challenges and the benefits that the growing silver economy could bring to the hospitality industry. At the same time, this session will identify the gaps in current hospitality education and training provisions, together with the session contributors and participants, before attempting to co-develop solutions that could bridge the identified gaps. Thus, the session is designed to offer knowledge exchange and experience-sharing opportunities for hospitality practitioners, researchers and educators to work collectively and collaboratively to achieve its intended objectives that are listed below. 1) To explore the changing demand for hospitality new services/products, workforce and venue designs in an ageing society, and their impact on the hospitality industry; 2) To identify the challenges, new opportunities, and benefits of silver economy for hospitality businesses, and their implications on hospitality education/training; 3) To form a Hospitality 4 Good (H4G) special interest group (SIG) that aims to connect, encourage and engage EuroCHRIE/ICHRIE members in conducting collaborative research that align with the UN SDGs and also shaping the future hospitality and tourism curriculum design collectively.