Tourist experiences and/or Experiental tourism? Study on the perception of the experience by the traveler

Abstract

Academic work that aims to discuss the theme that involves the dubious question of the defining border of what is meant by Experience Tourism or Experiential Tourism, explaining about the motivations and profiles of its performers. We want answers to the controversial questions: Is all tourism always synonymous with experiences? Can active, creative tourism whose main objective is to provide sensations and experimentation benefit from the designation of Experiential Tourism? Regarding methodological procedures, a qualitative and exploratory research was carried out, as well as an analysis of the results of an online survey submitted to a sample of 295 respondents, from 25 countries on all continents, to people over 18 years old, who carried out at least at least one tourist trip in the last 5 years, between 2018 and 2022.