Travel Reference
In-Depth Information
resources that enables exchange. Furthermore, it is the benefi ts that the actors experience in
partaking in co-creation that determine the level of value achievement.
The ultimate tourist experience happens on site, in a specifi c situation often together with
other tourists and hosts. However, parts of the tourist experience start before and end after the
journey takes place, often enabled by technology (Kohli and Grover 2008). Before the journey,
the tourists talk to friends and family, and learn from them what to experience and which places
to visit. The company should therefore ensure that existing customers bring home a toolkit (e.g.
von Hippel and Katz 2002) of experiences promoting their destination and fi rm, as well as
providing attractive and manageable homepages linked to various social media. Staging and
dramaturgy is thus of great importance before the journey. However, the experience starts when
people arrive at the experience scene, although the transportation from home to the destination
also has an impact on the tourists' mood, energy and motivation. The tourist experience is fi lled
with numerous minor experiences adding up to an overall experience, affecting evaluations and
future intentions. The experience could therefore be compared to a theatre and a play, where the
tourists are introduced to, involved and immersed in the drama (Goffman 1959).
Moiso and Arnould (2005) used the dramaturgical framework to explore shopping experiences,
distinguishing between
drama structure
,
drama interaction
and
drama content
. The extended dramaturgical
framework provided a more comprehensive understanding of the ways in which cultural resources,
active consumer agency and the formal components of performances in consumption situations
contribute to customer experiences. The components of the framework, i.e. the drama (drama
structure), the narrative resources that organize performances in shopping contexts (drama content)
and the active roles that consumers can take in drama performances (drama interaction), are
outlined in
Table 3.1
below. Drama structure denotes the set of theatrical components: setting,
actors/audience and performance, or the formal components of drama (Grove and Fisk 1992).
Drama interaction denotes the level of consumer involvement or activities, ranging from active to
passive, which can shape, redirect and structure the unfolding of the drama performance (Firat
1977), thus focusing on customer involvement experiences. The drama content denotes the
cultural resources that 'infuse . . . activity with signs which dramatically highlight and portray
confi rmatory facts that might otherwise remain unapparent or obscure' (Goffman 1959: 30).
Based on an idea of what constitute core customer values, i.e. functional, social, emotional
and/or epistemic, the message and the content should be founded on these premises. Tourists
attracted by functional value should receive information regarding standards of quality and value
for money, perhaps even compared to other facilities. If the core segment is more concerned
about social experiences, the fi rm may promote and facilitate elements augmenting the customers'
positive feeling of self and social acceptance, for instance focusing on a certain type of customer
and fi tting their own lifestyle or the lifestyle they seek. Customers seeking emotional value
should receive information about and experience the sensations and emotions of the experience,
e.g. excitement and enjoyment. For risk-takers climbing mountains, a fi lm produced to evoke
the emotions of experiencing heights would probably be of signifi cance, while a person in need
of relaxation would be more likely to appreciate calm and tranquil environments. For those
tourists who value epistemic qualities, promotion material and actual experiences focusing on
authentic stories and learning might be expected to be more effective in attracting tourists to
search for more information and to choose the actual destination and activities. In these situations,
the guide is often a key player in communicating and co-creating valuable experiences for the
customers (Arnould
et al
. 2002). Below,
Table 3.1
outlines the dramaturgy (structure, interaction
and content) of a tourist experience and what the tourist values during an experience process.
The table exemplifi es how the fi rm may facilitate enhanced value creation processes by
dramatizing a range of experience value elements.
