They’re not laughing now. In six short years, Gary Murtagh has built what many of his colleagues in the travel industry felt was a losing concept into a solid company offering exotic adventure tours to travellers aged 50 and over.

Murtagh says that when he told colleagues that Passages Exotic Expeditions, the company he co-founded in 1987, was changing its name and its positioning to ElderTreks, people started making jokes about how to manoeuvre wheelchairs in places such as the jungles of Borneo or a rain forest in Sumatra.

This year, ElderTreks is offering 100 trips, all escorted groups of no more than 15 people, to exotic destinations such as Nepal, Madagascar, Patagonia, Thailand, Laos, Tibet, Belize, Bolivia, Peru, Turkey, Morocco, and Iceland.

Murtagh knew that given the size of his potential marketplace, and the youthful attitude and vigor of the average 50-year-old today, ElderTreks would have to be a winner.

‘Every single day in North America there are 10,000 people turning 50,’ says Murtagh, adding that many are willing to pay top dollar for an exotic travel experience where they don’t have to worry about the quality of the accommodation or whether the food and water is safe to consume.

‘People who have been ambitious – and there are a lot of successful people in that demographic – want something that will enrich their lives rather than something that will potentially give them skin cancer,’ says Murtagh.

Half of those travelling with ElderTreks are in their 50s, while the other half is split between people in their 60s and 70s, he says.

Statistics Canada predicts that baby boomers, which comprise one-third of the Canadian population, will have a major impact on the travel industry.

In 1996, baby boomers aged 41 to 50 accounted for more than half of air travel and StatsCan predicts that, because of their influence, air travel by mature travellers will double by 2016.

This group also has the means to travel, with 46% of travelling boomers in 1996 reporting household incomes of more than $60,000.

The aging demographic will also have an impact on the types of tours and travel packages offered. Where families with children were major targets in the 1980s, empty-nesters and consumers 50-plus are the groups now being wooed with golf and hiking packages, cruises and escorted tours.

Statistics Canada reports that outside of the u.s., Europe – primarily the u.k. – is the preferred destination for Canadians. The number of visits to sun spots increased in 1997 with the number of overnight visits by Canadians to Florida jumping by 9.6% to 2.1 million.

Canadians also visited Central America and the Caribbean more often and visits to Mexico went up 29.5% to 567,000.

Despite the weak Canadian dollar, Hugh Campbell, operator of Argyll TravelPlus in Edmonton, and past-president of the Association of Canadian Travel Agents, predicts Canadian seniors will still opt for sun-spots like Florida – albeit for shorter stays – and Mexico, where the Canadian dollar is comparatively strong.

‘With a climate like ours, if it’s 20 below, people will head to hot weather, no matter what,’ says Campbell. ‘They’ll cut back on what they spend while there. They’ll look for packaged tours where they know the cost of airfare and accommodation beforehand in Canadian dollars.’

Companies that cater to the 50-plus traveller reach their target customers through travel agencies, travel shows and presentations, as well direct mail, word of mouth and repeat business.

ElderTreks, which offers its tours direct to consumers and through travel agents, has had good response to its Web site over the past 18 months, but had not done any traditional advertising until this year, when it took space in The Sophisticated Traveller, a quarterly magazine published by the New York Times newspaper.