Education Model for Experience Creation in Tourism

The complexity of the contemporary world is reflected on the tourism sector, as players and actors interact within the ever-changing process of tourist experiences and an on-going effort to increase material and non-material benefits for all. Amidst these, often contradictory, interests, the tourist experience is becoming more than a cultural value embedded within the community of a destination; it is already a type of commodified non-material product and among the principal reasons to travel. It is the experience that is at the core of tourist value perceived and shared via social networks (Jacobsen & Munar, 2012). For example, both consumers and service providers acknowledge the potential of social media in the communication and consumption of tourist values (Ayeh et al., 2012) as the evident rise in usage of social media by providers equals the rise in data connected to ratings by consumers. Various approaches interact in the field of cultural tourism as models for constituting a tourist experience. The theoretical model aims to define analytical procedures and a broad conceptualization of major forces which structure the actors’ experience of a destination with their motivation and involvement as key factors (Prebensen et al., 2012). The in-depth trade model strives to utilize hand-son experience to upgrade the existing destination experience and develop new manners of the experience within a given space. The development of tourism experience is seen as an inevitable part of operational activities within the sector, which has to include cautious action in order to maintain natural and social sustainability (Perottet & Benli, 2016). The empirical model is manifested in daily routines and a bottom-up approach to conceptualization of experience within the actual practice of tourism. This model refers mostly to various stakeholders who seek to exploit the benefits a destination has to offer. The properties of the model proposed in this chapter are educational, where students and educators are the actual actors. The model is presented through a case study of a student workshop conducted at the University of Zadar, situated in a major tourist destination.