People do not buy products, or even services; they purchase the total experience that the product or service provides. Experience management is seen as the way to remain competitive in markets where globalisation and technology have turned products and services into commodities. This book draws together academic and practitioner insights into the consumer experience by combining the perspectives of the tourist consumer with that of experience managers, supported by examples from tourism, leisure, hospitality, sport and event contexts. With contributions from established and emerging international scholars, it is organised into three sections: understanding experiences, researching experiences and managing experiences. It aims to provide students, researchers and managers with a stimulating overview of the current research and managerial issues in the field and as well as a resource to guide their further reading.

An essential read for all leisure and tourism experts, this educational book analyzes and explains demographics, global supply and demand, globalization, intercultural behavior and mobility to help you forecast future consumer needs.

Routledge Handbook of the Tourist Experience offers a comprehensive synthesis of contemporary research on the tourist experience. It draws together multidisciplinary perspectives from leading tourism scholars to explore emergent tourist behaviours and motivations. This handbook provides up-to-date, critical discussions of established and emergent themes and issues related to the tourist experience from a primarily socio-cultural perspective. It opens with a detailed introduction which lays down the framework used to examine the dynamic parameters of the tourist experience. Organised into five thematic sections, chapters seek to build and enhance knowledge and understanding of the significance and meaning of diverse elements of the tourist experience. Section 1 conceptualises and understands the tourist experience through an exploration of conventional themes such as tourism as authentic and spiritual experience, as well as emerging themes such as tourism as an embodied experience. Section 2 investigates the new, developing tourist demands and motivations, and a growing interest in the travel career. Section 3 considers the significance, motives, practices and experiences of different types of tourists and their roles such as the tourist as photographer. Section 4 discusses the relevance of ‘place’ to the tourist experience by exploring the relationship between tourism and place. The last section, Section 5, scrutinises the role of the tourist in creating their experiences through themes such as ‘transformations in the tourist role’ from passive receiver of experiences to co-creator of experiences, and ‘external mediators in creating tourist experiences'. This handbook is the first to fill a notable gap in the tourism literature and collate within a single volume critical insights into the diverse elements of the tourist experience today. It will be of key interest to academics and students across the fields of tourism, hospitality management, geography, marketing and consumer behaviour.

Edited by leading authorities, this key reference reflects the multidisciplinary nature of its subject. It is an essential resource for teaching, an invaluable companion to independent study, and a solid starting point for wider subject exploration.

This book explores and expands upon the core topics in the current academic debate within event management research. Emerging areas and innovative methodologies are organised into three themes: Events in Society, Event Consumers, and the Event Organization.

This text, now in its fully-updated third edition, continues to offer a comprehensive synthesis of the key issues associated with tourism, leisure and recreation.

The Routledge Handbook of Events explores and critically evaluates the debates and controversies associated with the rapidly expanding domain of Event Studies. It brings together leading specialists from a range of disciplinary backgrounds, to provide a state-of-the-art review on the evolution of the subject. The first edition was a landmark study which examined how event research had evolved and developed from a range of different social science subject areas and disciplines. The Handbook was the first critique of the extent to which the subject had developed into a major area of social science inquiry. This second edition has been fully updated to reflect crucial developments in the field and includes brand new sections on ever-important aspects of Event Studies such as: anthropology, hospitality, seasonality, knowledge management, accessibility, diversity and human rights, as well as new studies on ‘the eventful city’ and the benefits of events in older life. The book is divided into four inter-related sections. Section 1 introduces and evaluates the concept of events. Section 2 critically reviews the relationship between events and other disciplines such as the contribution of economics, psychology and geography to the critical discourse of Event Studies. Section 3 focuses on the business, operational and strategic management of events, while the final section crucially focuses on critical events as a new paradigm within the burgeoning literature on Events. It offers the reader a comprehensive and critical synthesis of this field, conveying the latest thinking associated with events research, edited by two of the leading scholars in the field. The text will provide an invaluable resource for all those with an interest in Events Studies, encouraging dialogue that will span across disciplinary boundaries and other areas of study. It is an essential guide for anyone interested in events research.

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.

Tourist attractions constitute the metaphorical 'heart' of tourism. This book aims to both deconstruct and construct what tourist attractions are, how we perceive them and how we can enhance our understanding of what attracts us as tourists. The volume reaches beyond current ideas about the ways tourist attractions are created, shaped and packaged. It focuses on the importance and subjective nature of identity, memory, narrative and performance in the tourist experience to find new ways of analysing and managing tourist attractions. The book will appeal to researchers and students in tourism and destination management and heritage and indigenous tourism.

This fourth edition of The Geography of Tourism and Recreation provides students with a comprehensive introduction to the interrelationship between tourism, leisure and recreation from geographical and social science perspectives. It still remains the only book to systematically compare and contrast in a spatial context, tourism and recreation in relation to leisure time, offering insight into the demand, supply, planning, destination management and impacts of tourism and recreation. Whilst retaining its accessible style and approach this edition has been significantly updated to reflect recent developments and new concepts from geography which are beginning to permeate the tourism and recreational field. New features include: Content on the most recent developments, climate change, sustainability, mobilities and crisis management in time and space as well as trends such as low cost airlines and the control of land transport by transnational operators in the EU such as Arriva. More attention to management issues such as innovation and the spatial consequences for tourism and leisure development. New case studies and examples to showcase real life issues, from both developed and developing countries, especially the US, China and South Africa. Completely revised and redeveloped to accommodate new, user- friendly features: case studies, insights, summary points and learning objectives. Written by leading academics, this is essential reading for all tourism, geography, leisure and recreation students.