Tourism place experience co-creation

The theory of experience economy argues that experiences are core drivers of value creation in the 21st century. In relation to this, the importance and potential of co-creating unique and personally meaningful experiences have been emphasised. Such experience co-creation is particularly relevant in tourism because production and consumption is inseparable and because tourists often seek to create their own experiences that fulfil their personal expectations and desires. In this chapter, we argue that because tourist experiences are experiences of place, place experience co-creation is central to value creation in tourism. Adding place to the co-creation discussion results in new and interesting perspectives. From the place experience perspective, the extent of co-creation in tourism depends on the degree to which place is controlled by tourism companies or co-created with tourists. This chapter uses this argument to build a model of tourism place experience co-creation. The role and potential of place co-creation is illustrated in a comparative case study of tourism businesses that shows how different business strategies can facilitate place experience co-creation. The findings suggest that place experience co-creation has wide-ranging potential in tourism and that it may ultimately lead not only to personal and meaningful tourist experiences but also to new business strategies, business models, and internal and external business brands.