Approaches to experience co-creation: Insights from the Czech UNESCO heritage destination
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| Year of publication | 2021 |
| Type | Appeared in Conference without Proceedings |
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| Description | Current trends in demand fundamentally affect how a tourism product is created. Visitors desire attractive and unique experiences, which they can co-create. The principle of co-creation, therefore, comes to the foreground (Buonincontri & Micera, 2016). Destinations seek to personalize the services provided and use tools that help meet individual demands and visitors’ expectations (Boes et al., 2016). The development of modern technologies allows the enhancement of visitors' experiences and the provision of personal experiences thanks to easy and fast access to information (Buhalis & Amaranggana, 2013). Modern technologies are indispensable for the competitiveness of destinations and thus become one of the pillars of the concept of Smart Tourism Destination (Xiang et al., 2015). Smart destinations avail modern technology for effective governance, better management of resources, increased interaction with visitors, and ensuring sustainability (Gretzel et al., 2015). The phenomenon of smart tourism destination changes mainly urban destinations in which intelligent tourist infrastructure can be built based on the Smart City concept (Gajdošík, 2018). The article connects the ideas of co-creating the product with the concept of a smart tourism destination, on the example of the Czech historical town, categorized as a UNESCO World Heritage Site. The case study presents the town of Třebíč, which is referred to be a smart destination of supraregional importance. The paper aims to evaluate the approaches of this smart destination to co-creating experiences in tourism and reveal weaknesses in the process of interaction with tourists. The approach to cocreation is evaluated based on the analysis of strategic documents and destination websites. Telephone interviews and e-mail communication with representatives of destination management involved in the development of smart tourism strategies of Třebíč are realized. Moreover, a field survey with mobile apps and other smart tools that the destination offers visitors is conducted. Třebíč is endowed with several tools for co-creating experiences in the destination, while they are mainly focused on the phase when the visitor is preparing the trip to the destination, or on the time he spends in the destination. The lowest level of contact is within the experience phase after the return of the destination, despite the fact that according to Neuhoffer et al. (2012) at this stage, the visitor enhances his experience through remembrance and sharing. The main smart tools that are used include websites, Facebook and Instagram profiles, and applications that allow virtual tours, monitoring the events and traffic. In general, the destination's approach can be considered comprehensive due to the inclusion of tourism in the strategic documents and the connection of social networks with other tools. The recommendations are connected to the possibilities of greater personalization of the experience, the basics of which can be seen in the offer of activities or trips to the surroundings according to the visitor segments and the expansion of communication in the post-visit phase. |
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