A new survey aimed at senior citizens living in the Algarve or considering moving to the region is due to be launched this month by international research company ProMatura and Algarve based hospitality real estate development planning company ILM.
The goal is to help private investors better understand what older citizens want and need in their later years.
The ‘Algarve Senior Living Survey’ is anonymous and findings will be shared with governments and other key stakeholders.
As the creators of the survey point out: “The Algarve is recognised as one of the world’s most attractive retirement destinations. Yet, there are barely any choices of residential retirement properties –‘retirement communities’ – available in the Algarve, while they become increasingly popular in other countries.
Retirement communities are not ‘care homes’, which also happen to be in short supply in the Algarve. This means that many older people, unwilling or unable to live in a private property or care home, are forced to return to their home country in later life.”
In other words, the knowledge obtained from the survey will help “shape the future of later-life living in the Algarve”.
“By learning exactly what is it that people really want in later life, private sector entrepreneurs will be able to invest in the appropriate products and spaces, and specialised senior living operators will be able to provide the services and lifestyle that people really need to live a life they would love to live,” they say.
As they point out, “Europe has a record-number of older people, thanks to the post-war ‘baby boom’ and advances in medical science leading us to all live longer. But the Covid-19 pandemic has shone a very bright light into significant areas of concern including the need for a good ‘healthspan’, not just a long ‘lifespan’.”
ProMatura and ILM also stress that several research studies in the UK and USA have confirmed people living in “retirement communities (a different proposition to care homes) are living longer, better, with earlier interventions to support them and have had very low incidences of Covid-19”.
The survey will feature between 50 to 60 questions and take around 40 minutes to complete. It will be part of a multi-country direct consumer market research programme comparing behaviour, motives, trends and product and service demand characteristics for seniors considering their later life needs in the UK, USA, Australia, Canada and Portugal-Algarve.
The survey creators are seeking to target over 30,000 ‘seniors’ living partially or full-time in the Algarve or considering relocating to the Algarve.
The Resident spoke to Peter Robinson from ProMatura Europe to better understand why the Algarve has been chosen as the site for this survey.
“I’ve been to the Algarve many times. I know the landscape as well as several resort owners and I know that the Algarve has always wanted to become the ‘Florida of Europe’ but has never quite got there,” he told us.
However, with the findings from the survey, “key stakeholders will better understand consumer mentalities”, Robinson said, adding that they will be equipped with the knowledge to cater to their needs.
“The survey asks people to be realistic about their living options, how they live now and how they see themselves living in the future,” he explained.
If all goes according to plan, Peter Robinson believes that the survey could help “unleash the Algarve’s potential” as a retirement destination.
And as he pointed out, “taking the survey may also help people prepare themselves for their future needs.”
The survey is due to be publicly launched via the Resident on Thursday, March 25. Watch this space for the link.
By MICHAEL BRUXO
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