Value in tourist experiences: How nature-based experiential styles influence value in climbing

Abstract

Nature-based adventure experiences constitute a significant segment of the tourism industry and understanding consumers’ conceptualisations of value is crucial. The aim of this study is to understand how the perceived value of the climbing experience differs within the climbing community. Interviews with climbers revealed that multiple aspects of the climbing experience are valued, including efficiency, play, excellence, aesthetics, status, emotion, esteem and authenticity. The results highlight that conceptualisations of value vary with experiential style. The study thus adds to the conversation on what creates value in the climbing experience and how this fluctuates throughout the climbing experience. The study contributes to our understanding of nature-based experiences and to the development and marketing of adventure experiences. The results imply that building a strong climbing image at destinations and being involved in the climbing community represent key issues that contribute to co-creating value in the tourist experience.

20 years of Nordic tourism experience research: a review and future research agenda

“…The flow experience (Csikszentmihalyi, 2002) is included in adventure tourism as individuals often must exercise and procure knowledge about the activity (e.g. mountain climbing) while becoming immersed in the topic (Vespestad et al, 2019), which may lead to the flow experience. Furthermore, extreme sport and adventure tourism are often a bit dangerous, so tourism firms have to focus on risk management.…”

Verdifulle turismeopplevelser – verdi forhvem?

“…Holbrook's inndeling har også inspirert turismestudier der verdi eksempelvis diskuteres i forhold til naturbaserte opplevelser som klatring, der man har funnet at effektivitet (ferdigheter, disiplin), lek, kompetanse, estetikk, status, følelser, samhold/aktelse og autentisitet er viktige element som bidrar til verdi i opplevelsen (Vespestad, Lindberg og Mossberg 2019). Dette viser at verdi kan ha svaert variert betydning.…”

“…Opplevelsen oppfattes subjektivt (Holbrook 1999), dermed vil opplevd verdi variere utfra den enkeltes bakgrunn, forkunnskaper og ferdigheter. I tillegg vil det sosiale aspektet ha betydning (Holbrook 1999;Vespestad, Lindberg, Mossberg 2019). Samskapingen (Prahalad og Ramaswamy 2004) med andre turister og bedriftens ansatte vil også virke inn på opplevd verdi.…”

A phenomenological study of the learning experience of children in rural tourism destinations

“…Environmental learning, which is an essential part of the tourism experience, is defined as interaction with the environment or environmental thinking, which is achieved through tourists’ experiences in a rural tourism destination (Kachel and Jennings, 2010). Studies on free learning experience in tourism destinations show that these learning experiences usually have characteristics such as being amusing, entertaining, enjoyable, multi-sensory, attractive, comfortable, exploratory and are accompanied by freedom of choice (Packer and Ballantyne, 2004; Packer, 2006; Vespestad et al, 2019).…”