The gender profile for almost all aspects of heritage tends to have a slight female bias, which must be a function of psychographic factors. That is, women are not necessarily more intrigued by aspects of the past or symbols of them (such as art, music or literature) but are more likely to spend their time and money on this than men, or at least to take the lead in the decision-making process when selecting a short or long break where historical architecture or another aspect of the cultural heritage of that country (such as food, for example a visit to a heritage food festival or a literature event and so on) might be high on the sightseeing agenda.

Age characteristics are very significant in respect of all sectors of the heritage industry. Notably (as mentioned above in Insight 3.1) the grey market, which has increased substantially both in volume and value terms in the developed West, has contributed greatly to the engagement with many aspects of heritage, in particular heritage tourism but also the greater consumption of food and drink with a heritage connection. Simply speaking, people in this demographic group tend to be empty nesters (position in family life-cycle) who have the greatest amount of wealth and leisure time in which to spend it (relative to other positions in the family life-cycle). In terms of psychographics, this group usually find it self-rewarding to discover or experience aspects of the past and not necessarily those with which...