Marketing of Tourism Experiences - Tapa dura

This book provides a review of the current theory and practice of experiential tourism and how it is marketed. Many societies today are characterised by widespread individual wealth of an order previously confined to the elite with the consequence that ownership of ‘ordinary’ physical goods is no longer a distinguishing factor. Instead people are now seeking the ‘extraordinary’ with examples being bodies enhanced through surgery, personal fitness trainers, and, in the case of leisure and tourism, seeking unique and unusual places to visit and activities to undertake. This trend manifests in the increasing consumption of services and the addition of experiential elements to physical goods by businesses aware of societal changes. The trend is enhanced by rapidly changing technology and economic production methods providing new sectors of the world’s population with access to the consumption experiences that are repeatedly featured in the media. This is the experience economy, characterised by a search by consumers for fantasies, feelings, and fun.

This book was based on a special issue of  Journal of Hospitality Marketing & Mangement.

Noel Scott is a senior lecturer in the School of Tourism and Leisure Management, The University of Queensland.

Eric Laws is an adjunct professor at James Cook University, Cairns, Queensland, Australia.

Philipp Boksberger is Director of the Institute for Tourism and Leisure Research at the University of Applied Science HTW Chur, Switzerland.