The rise of “Grandma Tourism” 

By: Ryhaan Shah

No one should be surprised that young people who interface daily and, maybe, all day with the high-tech world of computer screens and Android voices find that they actually yearn for the human touch. So, a whole new world has opened up to what’s being called “grandma tourism”.
Young travellers are looking for tours and classes that are led specifically by older women. One-third of millennials report feeling stressed and find that there is a calming influence when they spend time with the older generation.
A report by tour guide company GetYourGuide shows that 76 percent of Gen Z travellers from France, Germany, the UK, and the US would book a “grandma-inspired” holiday activity like learning to make pasta with a nonna (grandmother) in Italy or hiring Japanese grandmothers as their tour guides for travel in Japan.
For 32-year-old Los Angeles-based fashion stylist Brittany Diego, the maternal warmth she experienced in her nonna-led pasta class was the highlight of her trip to Italy, and several countries are already cashing in on this tourism trend.
French grandmas Mamie Daniela and Mamie Catherine will teach you to bake French pastries; Japanese octogenarian Kayoko, in Tokyo, will teach you the art of making musubi, a Japanese rice and nori sandwich; and, in Australia, Wardandi Bibbulum will share her knowledge of native foods.
In Budapest, Hungary, Zita Pancsovay and her grandmother will serve up a traditional Hungarian dinner as you relax in their home, and tourists can experience Ayurvedic cooking with Grandma Shyama in her home in Kochi, India. Grandma Kate Wright in Galway, Ireland, began teaching tourists how to make Irish dishes like brown bread and stew in her cosy home kitchen.
So why not grandma tourism in Guyana as well? We have nannies and grannies who can help young people unwind and relax with some authentic cooking, craft classes, or storytelling. It would take some enterprising entrepreneur to put together a tour, or tours, of upriver or coastland travel combined with a Guyanese lunch or craft class led by a nanny or granny – and there are many of those around with warmth and humour and with long-time stories to tell and songs to sing – who would do wonderfully well with such an enterprise.
There could be a ready market in the Guyanese diaspora with children and grandchildren who have grown up hearing tales of their parents’ and grandparents’ youthful days back home and wanting to experience the liveliness of a bottom-house gaff while learning to clap roti or make a pot of cook-up or pepper pot.
Those who have already sought out and experienced grandma-led tourist activities talk about the nurturing care as a key part of the attraction. They find the travel experience more meaningful because of the opportunity to learn directly from those whose knowledge of the particular region and its crafts and cuisine is shaped over a lifetime.
Connecting with women who have learnt their artistry and culinary know-how from their own mothers and grandmothers provides a very special feeling for millennials, who gain a sense of tranquillity just by being away from their work environment with its computers and phones that demand constant attention.
As well as offering feelings of safety and calm, matriarchs pass on knowledge, traditional skills, and local customs that may otherwise be lost, and they also offer younger travellers the confidence to be comfortable in their own skin.
The benefits of this kind of tourism run both ways since being engaged with younger people is good for the older generation’s health and well-being, and psychologist and author Terri Apter, who specialises in family dynamics, identity, and relationships, says that while younger people gain from the grandmothers’ years of experience, the grandmas are also keen to keep busy, share their skills, and pass on their traditional knowledge.
She adds, “Young people will undoubtedly get a very warm reception from older people. Because if you look at phases of development across the lifespan, one need of older age is generativity, which means giving back. Being engaged with and teaching younger people is extremely good for older people’s mood, their health, and their longevity.”
Grandmother tourism allows the younger generation to slow down and experience something that’s hands-on and authentic, and in a world where they are spending more and more time on hi-tech devices, a cooking class or simply spending a day that offers a genuine human touch gives them a chance to switch off and enjoy the warm and inviting human connection they are missing.