Travel Reference
In-Depth Information
covering its defi nitional basis, historical evolution and emergence of latest concepts. The
evolution in the experience economy, from the staging of experiences
for
the consumer to
co-creating experiences
with
the consumer is discussed subsequently. The
second part
reviews
the dynamic technological advances, with particular emphasis on the mobile sector, and provides
new insights into their role in enhancing the co-creation of tourism experiences. The section
highlights a paradigm shift in marketing and introduces the concept of technology enhanced
tourism experiences. It outlines how tourism organizations can exploit the full potential of the
plethora of ICTs to enhance the tourism experience co-creation process throughout all stages
of the travel. The third and fi nal part of this chapter discusses practical implications of this
development for tourism marketing and provides an outlook on the future agenda for tourism
marketing research.
Tourism experiences: theoretical developments
Defi nitions of tourism experiences
What are technology enhanced tourism experiences? To answer this question for the purpose
of this chapter, as the underlying concept, it is crucial to start with understanding the origins and
the evolution of the notion of tourism experiences. Experience, fi rst noted in the 1960s, has
been defi ned as a vague and highly ambiguous term, which encompasses a specifi c occurrence
that a person would have in everyday life. In the domain of marketing, the notion of experiences
emerged with Holbrook and Hirschman's (1982) seminal work postulating that consumer
behaviour is not mere information processing but constitutes an active engagement in an
emotional consumption experience. Succeeding this revolution, experiences have become a key
concept in numerous fi elds including consumer behaviour, marketing and the experience
economy. In the specifi c context of tourism, experiences have initially been portrayed as a quest
for novelty and a reversal of everyday life (Cohen 1979). These early attempts were followed by
a stream of literature focusing on capturing single elements, typologies, dimensions and
chronological stages to develop a more holistic understanding of the tourism experience
construct (Killion 1992, Otto and Ritchie 1996). Despite the numerous approaches having
integrated perspectives from different social sciences, there is no consensus to date on a single
defi nition of the tourism experience. Instead, it needs to be recognized in its full complexity
with various infl uences, stages, elements, outcomes and types, all shaping and contributing to its
current understanding (Jennings
et al
. 2009).
Experiences have always played a primary role in both tourism research and practice. The
ongoing theoretical progress in the area underpins its importance and unabated relevance. In
recent years, the study of experiences has received a revived interest, which is refl ected in the
amount of state-of-the-art literature discussing the concept (e.g. Cutler and Carmichael 2010;
Morgan
et al
. 2010; Darmer and Sundbo 2008; Tung and Ritchie 2011; McCabe
et al
. 2012).
With the tourism industry being subject to constant change, the nature of experiences is evolving
alike, requiring new ways for understanding the design and the creation of successful experiences.
For tourism marketing it is paramount to appraise the key developments forming the theoretical
and practical understanding to date as well as to capture the latest changes, trends and challenges.
For this purpose, the subsequent section provides a progress of
experience generations
that both
encompasses a synthesis of the major theoretical milestones of the past and sheds light on some
of the latest advances in the area.
