Under Revenue rules, retirees can withdraw up to 25 per cent of their pension fund as a tax-free lump sum. For some it’s an opportunity to fund the kind of bucket-list travel of which they’d previously only dreamed – while they still have the energy and enthusiasm to enjoy it.
As product director at Travel Department, which specialises in guided holidays worldwide, Claire Doherty sees the demand from this demographic first-hand.
“It’s not necessarily that they tell us what the money is, so much as we get a lot of people who are of retirement age suddenly taking holidays because they have both the money and the time,” she says.
Though Travel Department offers a full a range of European destinations, there is a marked spike in long-haul bookings among this age group, she adds.
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Booking with the company ensures they get to see all the highlights of far-flung places without having to put in the legwork of organising the itinerary themselves, including transfers, meals and excursions.
“They know they are going to see all the things they should see. And because it’s so well organised they’ll get to see it at the best time, like what’s the best time to visit the Taj Mahal? Or to get that train from A to B? If you’re planning all that on your own it’s very easy to go wrong,” she says.
Travel Department has a sub-brand, TD Active Holidays, catering to those who enjoy some physical exertion as part of their break. These include events such as cycle tours through rice fields in Vietnam or to the Taj Mahal in India.
Opting for a guided holiday means you have someone on hand should something go awry, no matter how far flung the destination. “That’s a huge load off for somebody who has done their life’s work and just wants to enjoy their retirement,” she says.
The company’s Splendours of Delhi, Taj Mahal and Rajasthan tour is custom designed for those who love the vibrancy and culture of India’s cities but also have the time on their hands to indulge in extensions to a beach in Goa or Dubai. This particular tour is priced from €2,399 per person sharing, with the add-on to Goa from €3,569 or Dubai from €2,979.
To make the most of all the extra time on your hands check out its 28-day tour of Australia and New Zealand, which includes two nights in Singapore on the way out and two nights in Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia, on the way home. In between you’ll see everything from Sydney, the Blue Mountains, Ayers Rock and Great Barrier Reef to Christchurch, the North Island Waitomo caves and Auckland.
The company uses local tour guides, “and no one knows these areas like the locals do,” says Doherty. That adds enormous value to the active holidaymaker. “I remember walking around Pompeii on my own some years ago, and it was great. Then I did it again as part of one of our guided tours and it was completely different to have someone telling you all the little stories about what you are seeing. It’s a totally different experience,” she says.
If you thought cruising was the definition of fly-and-flop holidaying, think again. Demand for expedition cruises among this age cohort are on the rise, according to John Galligan of the eponymous travel company.
The company specialises in ultra-luxury providers such as Seabourn, Silversea and Regent Seven Sea and has seen demand for destinations such as the Galápagos and Antarctica soar. These are active retirees happy to jump into rigid inflatable boats to explore a coastline or go ashore.
“Obviously there are civil servants who get their lump sum and away they go but there is also an awful lot of couples in their 50s and 60s who have done all right for themselves, whose kids have grown up and who now want to see the places they’ve always wanted to see, and Antarctica tends to be at the top of that list,” says Galligan, whose Antarctic Expedition trips for 2025 start at €13,700.
“They are still nimble, active, outdoorsy people who have an awful lot of fun doing the expedition stuff, like landing on a beach in a Zodiac and going for a hike in the woods and seeing all the wildlife,” he says. This year Silversea is running a series of expedition cruises out of Dublin, making such trips even more accessible.
The most poignant bookings he gets for trip-of-a-lifetime destinations are from those whose husband or wife has died, and who is travelling to a destination the couple wished to go to, but with a friend or relative instead. When it comes to bucket-list travel, his view is clear. “Do it before you kick it,” he says.
