Why Experiences are the New Economic Fontier

As outlined in the Harvard Business Review’s influential piece Welcome to the Experience Economy, economies progress from extracting commodities, to manufacturing goods, to delivering services, and ultimately, to staging experiences. In each stage, value becomes more personalized, immersive, and emotionally resonant. Tourism is a textbook example of this transformation.

Unlike many sectors that are adapting to the experience economy, tourism was born into it. Traveling for pleasure is a decidedly modern phenomenon—unlike transport, retail, or agriculture, which had utilitarian roots, leisure travel emerged specifically to deliver enjoyment, inspiration, and escape. Its primary value has always been experiential.

The destination may be fixed, but the value lies in how it makes you feel, what you discover, and the story you take home. In tourism, the experience is the product.

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