Learning through extraordinary tourism experiences

• Extant research has demonstrated that learning is a core element underlying extraordinary experience since it enriches the experience and makes it more meaningful. Despite being a critical element in such experience, the literature provides few answers to how and in what situations tourists learn, in particular how extraordinary experience is related to learning. Hence, the purpose of this study is to understand how tourists learn through extraordinary experience. Learning theories emphasize a process where the learner’s beliefs are challenged and experiences are made sense of, which make them useful in relation to intellectually engaging and transformative extraordinary experiences. Two illustrative different cases, an oyster experience on the West Coast of Sweden and a guided tour in Kisumu, Kenya, are used to demonstrate how learning takes place for tourists engaged in extraordinary experience. The findings show that tourists involved in extraordinary experiences are more likely to learn by being in a stimulating environment where learning is enhanced through three mutually inclusive elements: (1) engagement, (2) critical moments and (3) reflection.

Subject headings

SAMHÄLLSVETENSKAP  -- Ekonomi och näringsliv -- Företagsekonomi (hsv//swe)

SOCIAL SCIENCES  -- Economics and Business -- Business Administration (hsv//eng)

Keyword

tourist experience; extraordinary experience; learning; transformation

Publication and Content Type

ref (subject category)

kap (subject category)