Co-creation Tourism, Added Value to the Tourism Scenery

Abstract

In the experience economy, suppliers are in search of new ways to distinguish themselves and to fight for the customer’s attention. Society’s system of social ruling is making way for communicative self steering. Dialogues between equal partners replace the traditional top down approach. Customers are therefore gaining more power and control. Product and company centric led innovations are now being taken over by the co-creation experience as a basis for value and as the future of innovation. Glimpses of the co-creation experience are observed in a variety of realms but tourism is not yet mentioned as one of them. This is remarkable as for many countries tourism is the number one income generator and for many in the developed world an essential part of their quality of life. Especially during free time people express their quest for ever more unique experiences reflecting their own personal stories. This article provides an innovative perspective on tourism in the experience economy based on the principle of co-creation. A tourism network approach facilitates the inclusion of anyone and anything eventually involved in the (co-) creation of tourism experiences with a central role for the human being.