Matkalla koettuja elämyksiä ja elettyjä kokemuksia: Millainen on hyvä matkailukokemus?

Authors

• Juulia Räikkönen

Keywords:

tourism, experiences, quality, narratives

Abstract

What are the components that constitute quality tourist experiences?

Experiences are seen as basic elements of tourism. Tourists are promised to gain experiences by tourism industry but in the end experiences are formed by tourists themselves. Research on tourist experiences has grown remarkably overthe past years. However the components that constitute the tourist experience still remain somewhat unclear. The aim of this study is to determine what kind of factors tourists mention when they describe their quality tourist experiences. This is done by examining narratives of tourist experiences on the basis of five existing theories concerning experiences. The data consists of 153 short narratives which took part in "A nice vacation" writing contest arranged by Helsingin Sanomat. The analyses indicate that quality tourist experiences are emotional rather than functional, passive rather than active and consist of peak touristic experiences and supporting consumer experiences. Quality tourism experiences are influenced mainly by the product and the tourist him/herself and can be seen as contrast to daily routine experiences.