Designing tourist experiences in the countryside

• Author(s): Agapito, Dora ; Valle, Patrícia Oom do ; Mendes, Júlio
• Date: 2012
• Persistent ID: http://hdl.handle.net/10400.1/4601
• Origin: Sapientia - Universidade do Algarve
• Subject(s): Sensory tourist experience; Countryside
• Document Type: Conference Object
• Language: English

Description

The rise of the experiential paradigm in conceptualizing tourism has directed special attention to the five senses - sight, smell, taste, hearing and touch - in designing tourist experiences. Additionally, a multidisciplinary literature approach shows the importance of all the senses in human perception, suggesting multiple sensory experiences in geographical encounters, such as in tourism destinations. In the countryside, tourist experiences are highly based on a diversified collection of undeveloped resources, offering multiple sensory stimuli that can be managed in order to design and enhance tourist experiences and bolster natural resources, in a view to a sustainable local development. This study aims to understand the role of human senses in designing tourist experiences in the countryside. A survey was presented to tourists in rural lodgings. Sensory experiences emerged from a content analysis followed by a multiple correspondence analysis, suggesting that sensory information is suitable for theming tourist experiences in rural areas. Practical implications are discussed.