Basic Concepts of Tourism Experience

BASIC CONCEPTS OF TOURISM EXPERIENCE The philosopher Immanuel Kant said that all humans gain knowledge from experience. Kant (1856) explained that experience is direct and contrasts with knowledge. This has the same meaning as empirical knowledge. Knowledge comes from life. There is an evaluative connotation related to experiences either as a group or individually. This also means that knowledge is cumulative, based on human experience throughout history. Therefore, in the simplest version, experience is knowledge possessed by human senses or feelings. The concept of experience in tourism studies has attracted the attention of a number of researchers. One of them, Otto and Ritchie (1996) said that the travel experience is related to the mental condition of visitors during the tour. This means that tourists' diverse and conflicting needs and desires can impact place-resource interactions both rationally and emotionally. In addition to discussing the influence of emotions on experiences, Wearing (2001) also analyzes two main topics that address tourist subjectivity. On the one hand, tourism is an escape from daily routine. On the other hand, according to Urry (1990), De Masi (2000), and O'Dell (2005) say tourism functions as a self-construction. Regardless of the approach taken by the author, the fact is that the tourist experience has changed according to the dynamics of technological development, capital, socio-cultural interactions, feelings of (emptiness), and is exacerbated by narcissism (Lipovetsky, 1993). From very related points there is talk about the need to practice sustainable tourism. Leads to experiences based on the marketing of production, distribution and consumption of the tourism process that transforms exchange relationships between different social groups into questions primarily regarding tourism supply and demand. In this sense, practicing tourists who strive to be authentic will essentially remain synonymous with mass tourism only their name will change. Analysis of the phenomenon of experience seeking in tourism tends to be based on 'experience economics' or 'experience marketing'. In 1999, the works of Jensen (The Dream Society) and Pine and Gilmore (The Experience Economy) were published. Both works are structured around the same central idea: in terms of markets, we are leaving behind the service era to gradually reach a new level of supply and demand relationships, increasingly based on emotions and sensory aspects. In contemporary society's records regarding changes in behavior with images that are always related to the market, it establishes a new scenario, namely that free time or free time from obligations has become increasingly valued. It is a possibility to escape from everyday life and is a maximum representation of repressed dreams, feelings and sensations. In this aspect, tourism has emerged as a maximum possibility for experiential transformation because at several levels it provides change as indicated by Krippendorf (2009) namely changes in scenery or atmosphere, steps and lifestyle, changing spatial, In this context, the tourist experience becomes more relevant, complex and difficult to measure precisely as Industrial Age metrics increasingly give way to more flexible, pervasive and intuitive analytical processes and models. Kim et al (2010) understand the tourism experience (experiential tourism) empirically based on a literature review and empirical data collection with students from the United States, proposing a scale with seven domains to measure, clarify and validate the meaning of a memorable tourist experience. These domains are hedonism, refreshment, local culture, meaningfulness, knowledge, involvement and novelty. Then in a subsequent study this scale was validated by Kim and Ritchie (2014) by applying their research to people in Taiwan. Trigo (2010) states that it is no longer enough to sell services. Instead, it is necessary to offer an experience, something extraordinary, that creates emotions, affects and sensations. Tourism marketing professionals understand the demand in tourism for experiences, so they are starting to offer products and services that offer some type of experience. One example is so-called experiential tourism, which has emerged in recent years as a process and product adapted to contemporary travel, acquiring a philosophical and commercial character simultaneously (Uriely, 2005; Hosany and Gilbert, 2010; Sharpley and Jepson, 2011; Kim, 2012; Dalonso et al., 2014). Panosso Netto and Gaeta (2010), philosophically - and in the Kantian sense of experience - tourism experience (experiential tourism) represents humanity's ongoing search for something capable of representing the discovery, assimilation and dissemination of something truly relevant to its existence and social context which belongs to him. Here the tourism experience (experiential tourism) will be confused with the tourism experience (tourist experience). Experience is symbolically important and acquired over time, whereas tourism expresses the real possibility of change and discovery (the foundation for new experiences). Therefore, tourism experience (experiential tourism) and tourist experience (tourist experience) are different concepts.temporal and behavioral perspectives. In experiential tourism, the sensorial/emotional enjoyment of travel is very important. On the other hand, the tourist experience does not always evoke this condition because it often occurs in a familiar, superficial and isolating way (for example, spending a month sunbathing and doing the same daily activities, such as reading the same newspaper, eating the same breakfast and go to bed at the same time). From a marketing perspective, experiential tourism can be seen as a marketing segment or strategy. In other words, it is a specialized version of the supply-demand relationship capable of serving more specific and complex commercial interests. Therefore, it does not represent the concept of tourist experience which in the market, only refers to something that is sought by the consumer-tourist and is often obtained during a certain time interval, at a certain price, under certain conditions. For most of the tourist trade, tourists' motivations and the sensorial/emotional essence of their travel experiences are less important. People in commerce care more about being pragmatic about the survival of the business and its economic sustainability. The most obvious consequence is the pasteurization of the concept of experiential tourism in a mold similar to that applied by the tourism market to experiences and activities that are said to be sustainable and ecological. Viewed in this way, the tourism experience (experiential tourism) is at serious risk of becoming an act of pseudorealization and turning into a sterile and harmless product, thus greatly affecting the possibility of creating a memorable tourist experience and conquering the transformative power that the tourism experience can generate (experience of tourism). Operationalization At the annual Innovative Thinkers meeting promoted by the Technology, Entertainment and Design (TED) Foundation, Daniel Kahneman (2010) discussed the mysterious relationship between memory and experience. Aziz Abu Sarah (2014) explains how tourism can overcome cultural barriers and prejudice between different cultures. He wasn't talking about experimental tourism, but his presentation demonstrated the positive and transformative power of authentic tourism experiences.