Texas now ‘certifies' its retirement communities — and Harlingen is On Board

A new generation of Winter Texans making its way to the Rio Grande Valley promises to shake up old perceptions and rewrite the way business is done.

This is the generation of the baby boomers, born between 1946 and 1964. They are younger and more active than their predecessors. They are adventuresome and they'll want to explore a diversity of outdoor activities and a variety of cultural experiences.

Business as usual in the tourism industry won't do, many in the industry agree.

"We're going to have to rethink things. We're going to have to change attitudes towards a younger generation," said Bill Summers, president of the Weslaco-based Rio Grande Valley Partnership, a regional chamber of commerce.

"They are younger people and they won't want to hang around and do shuffleboard and arts and crafts. They will want to be on the go."
Another chamber official sees change coming.

"The (Valley) economy depends so much on Winter Texans that we need to realize there's going to be a shift," said Martha Noell, president and CEO of the Weslaco Area Chamber of Commerce.

Put another way, "They're not going to retire the same way as their parents," said Nancy Millar, director of the McAllen Convention and Visitors Bureau.

Some within the tourism industry have predicted the number of Winter Texans may decline over the next decade. Others disagree.

Considering the nation's economic crisis, seniors are more likely to seek out the Valley, where they can enjoy a lower cost of living, said Nydia Tapia-Gonzales, executive director of the Harlingen Convention & Visitors Bureau.

But they all agree there will be change. And the big difference is in the age of retiring seniors.

The age group is closer to 55 than 65 or older, Summers said.

Roger Youngblood, who manages a gated retirement community in Harlingen, says the trend is evident.

"The people coming in now are not older than we had before. What I have here is a younger and younger group of seniors that have retired and are coming in," Youngblood said.

"Some of them are just barely in their 60s."

That means they are more active.

"The previous generation of Winter Texans, they would stay around the park and do the bingo and shuffleboard," Tapia-Gonzales said.

"But the new ones, the baby boomers, they're into outdoor sports, tennis, golf, hiking and biking."

Noell sees the same trend.

"One of the trends is that they are more active, more athletic. They enjoy doing more outdoor things. That means they aren't necessarily going to be the shuffleboard type."

Baby boomers will want "nature experiences," as well as cultural experiences, she said.

More and more senior will want to be involved in ecotourism, Summers said.

"There will be a lot of bird watchers," he said. "We're going to have to tool up for a lot of outdoor tourism attractions like birding and dolphin watching."

With the Valley's reputation as a world birding center, the region is primed to capitalize on those expectations, business leaders agree.
But their visits will be shorter, most seem to agree.

"The trends are showing they are continuing to travel, but it may not be the extended periods of time that it used to be because many of them are going to continue to work at some level," Noell said.

Millar, of the McAllen chamber, agrees baby boomers are more likely to have second careers after retirement.

"Baby boomers, frequently when they retire, get bored and want to do something else," Millar said. "So they get a second job or a part-time job."

Those second careers may keep them from staying in the Valley for extended periods of time, she said.

"Previous generations of Winter Texans, when they retired, they retired," Noell said.

"Baby boomers still consider themselves the youthful generation and they always will. They'll never fully retire from work."

The new generation is more likely to travel by plane and rent or buy residences, which will give them more traveling flexibility as opposed to driving a recreational vehicle, Millar said.

Millar and others predict the new seniors are also likely to spend money on hands-on activities.

Baby boomers will look more for entertainment and cultural experiences and educational opportunities while previous generations were more interested in socializing and networking, Millar said. "This generation is still very interested in continuing their self-improvement," she said.

Noell said the next generation of retirees will spend their entertainment money differently.

"They're more into adventure travel or the - tourism term -‘experiential travel or tourism,'" Noell said.

After the Sept. 11, 2001, terrorist attacks, the number of Winter Texans traveling to the Valley dropped significantly, Millar said.

In 2004-2005, a study found 127,000 Winter Texans came to the Valley, said Penny Simpson, a professor who researches tourism at the University of Texas-Pan American.

The numbers were up from 2002-2003, when 123,000 Winter Texans came back, she said.

But numbers haven't rebounded since 2000-2001, when 143,000 Winter Texans came here, she said, blaming the drop on the economic
aftermath of 9/11.

Summers says that "possibly" fewer retirees will come to the Valley in the future. But greater spending would make up for the lower number of visitors, he said.

"They will have quite a bit of money ... They'll be spending more money. That will keep the economic impact about the same," Summers said.

Tapia-Gonzales, at the Harlingen Conventions and Visitors Bureau, sees more visitors, not less, in the Valley's future.

"Considering they like to do outdoor things and they are very active, our location is perfect," she said.

But she agrees the industry will have to change with the times.

"We'll have to improvise and offer more activities because they are adventuresome," Tapia-Gonzales said. "In order to target them, what do we do? We really need to be more creative; it's a different generation."

Former Valley Morning Star reporter Amanda Harris, Star reporter Fernando Del Valle and Monitor reporter James Osborne contributed to this report.

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EDITOR'S NOTE: Millions of baby boomers are the next generation of retirees. They'll seek a warm, friendly place where their money will go far, and which will be a base from which they can live active lives.
The Valley - particularly the Harlingen metro area - could be their perfect place to land.
The third part of a five-day series appears today.

Sunday
Overview: An industry poised for change

Monday
History: When retirees discovered the Valley

Today
The Next Generation: Baby boomers

Wednesday
Harlingen: State stamp of approval

Thursday
The Future: New needs, big potential