The Influence by the Elderly on Modernising the Organisation of Tourist Farms

Abstract

Background and purpose: The demographic structure of the countryside shows that the number of people aged 65 or more is increasing; however, they are still active and motivated for work and help the younger generation. The research aims at studying the influence of the elderly on the organisation of tourist farms; particularly the factors which affect the organisation of operation and modernisation thereof, such as the factors of inheritance, intergen­erational organisational relationships and cooperation, the frequency of further training, inclusion of the elderly in tourist farms and the effect of the perceived changes in the organisation of subsidiary tourist activities on farms on the perception of modernisation. Methodology: A critical review of secondary literature sources has been made and the findings were summarised by applying the synthesis method. Further on, a survey was conducted on tourist farms in all Slovenian cohesion regions in order to collect the data which was then analysed by multiple regression method, applying IBM SPSS software. Results: Inheritance factors do not affect the perception of the modernisation of tourist farms in a statistically signif­icant way; the same applies for intergenerational relationships for people, aged 51 or more while the influence was established for people under 51. Furthermore, the inclusion of the elderly does not have any influence neither does the frequency of further training while education and trainings themselves are important. It has been found out that the expansion of the offer, followed by the division of work, is the most significant for the perception of modernisation. Conclusion: Survey results show good relationships among the social actors and possible solutions which can be implemented in order to help the population of the Slovenian countryside concerned. Key words: The elderly, Modernising the organisation, Tourism, Tourist farms, Organisation.