The Consumption of Tourism - Tourism and Development: Concepts and Issues - page 358

12 The Consumption of Tourism

Richard Sharpley

It is a mistake to assume that most tourists are anything more than
consumers, whose primary goal is the consumption of a tourism experience
McKercher, 1993a: 11

Introduction

A fundamental characteristic of tourism is that the 'product' is consumed
on site. That is, whether within their own country or abroad, tourists travel
to the destination to enjoy or participate in tourism. At the same time, it is
widely recognised that consumers play a direct role in the production and/or
delivery of most service products (Cowell, 1984) and tourism, in particular, is
no exception. Indeed, it has been suggested that the 'final output' of the tour-
ism production process - the personal tourist experience - is dependent upon
the involvement of tourists themselves (Sharpley & Stone, 2011; Smith, 1994).
Certainly, the tourism industry combines primary (e.g. land and labour) and
intermediate (e.g. hotels, shops and modes of transport) inputs to produce
intermediate outputs, such as accommodation, meals or performances.
However, 'in the final stage, the tourist utilises the intermediate outputs (ser-
vices) to generate the final output: intangible but highly valued experiences
such as recreation, business and social contacts' (Smith, 1994: 591). Moreover,
contemporary analyses reveal how tourist experiences are not simply the
inevitable outcome of the passive consumption of tourism services. Rather,
tourists are increasingly viewed as active co-creators of their tourism experi-
ences, in a sense acting in partnership with suppliers to produce personal and
meaningful experiences (Goytia Prat & de la Rica Aspiunza, 2012; Prahalad
& Ramaswamy, 2004).
In short, tourists are an integral element of the tourism production pro-
cess. As a result, the nature of the tourism product is influenced not only by
the industry that provides the basic constituent parts of the product but also
by the needs, motivations, expectations and consequent behaviour of tourists.
Implicitly, therefore, the manner in which tourists consume tourism experi-
ences is as influential as the activities of the tourism industry in determining

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