The immersion in the territory authenticity makes a trip unforgettable, a memorable experience. When this condition occurs we talk about experiential tourism that is characterized by the match with the history, the arts, the landscape, the culture, the handicraft and natural environmental of a specific place. The main objective of experiential tourism is the development of the territory, both natural and anthropic. For this reason it is increasingly common the idea that the experiential approach goes together with sustainability (Belletti and Berti, 2011; Buffa and Matini, 2012). The development of experiential tourism creates a widespread prosperity by assigning new roles to unproductive space, time and territories. Moreover, in a historical moment in which the competitiveness of the tourism product based on price suffered a setback is necessary that competitiveness is guarantee through the implementation of alternative strategies. The spread of online travel sale changed national and international tourist scene. To gain a competitive advantage in the long term, the tour operators have invested on differentiation based primarily on the marketing of memorable experiences. Among other things, if the online travel sale (flights and accommodation) is managed by foreign operators, the experiential tourism sale on the web still offers great chances to Italian operators. In this segment, in fact, a local operator guarantees the knowledge of area and the product that foreign one cannot provide. Obviously this is fundamental. Internet is important for issues related to experience before and after the trip, not only for the issues related to the sale. During the preparation of a trip, to read the experiences of other travellers can play a decisive role in choosing a destination. Comments on the web are equivalent to word of mouth for those who are preparing a holiday. The case of Italy fits well in this context of renewal. In recent years, Italy has lost competitiveness and has a great need to innovate channels and ways of tourist supply. 2 Travel must represent a way to live and to experience the places, not just a way to see them. The tourist/traveller will remember the emotions experienced by visiting the sites of the story (such as the Colosseum and the Fori Imperiali) or some natural areas (such as the Dolomites), he will not remember the hotel or the flight. Also the visits to exhibitions and/or museums can be an unforgettable experience. These structures thanks to the technology became a real "sanctuary of experience", here the visitor becomes an actor. The Galata Museo del Mare in Genoa, a coastal town in Northern-West Italy overlooking the Tyrrhenian Sea, it is certainly a tourist attraction in which to achieve a high impact experience. Galata is considered the largest maritime museum among the Italian maritime museums for the quality and innovation of its reconstructions. Visitors can immerse themselves in scientific and formal high-quality reconstructions that faithfully reproduce the lives of sailors, passengers, emigrants and immigrants. One of the aim of this article is to verify how the experience strategy has influenced the stage and the philosophy of Galata museum by interviews with a witness. Another is to verify, by analysing the visitors comments presents in TripAdvisor, how and as the experience of the Galata tourist was profound and unforgettable.

Tourism and Experience Economy: a field research

MANGANO, STEFANIA
2014-01-01

Abstract

The immersion in the territory authenticity makes a trip unforgettable, a memorable experience. When this condition occurs we talk about experiential tourism that is characterized by the match with the history, the arts, the landscape, the culture, the handicraft and natural environmental of a specific place. The main objective of experiential tourism is the development of the territory, both natural and anthropic. For this reason it is increasingly common the idea that the experiential approach goes together with sustainability (Belletti and Berti, 2011; Buffa and Matini, 2012). The development of experiential tourism creates a widespread prosperity by assigning new roles to unproductive space, time and territories. Moreover, in a historical moment in which the competitiveness of the tourism product based on price suffered a setback is necessary that competitiveness is guarantee through the implementation of alternative strategies. The spread of online travel sale changed national and international tourist scene. To gain a competitive advantage in the long term, the tour operators have invested on differentiation based primarily on the marketing of memorable experiences. Among other things, if the online travel sale (flights and accommodation) is managed by foreign operators, the experiential tourism sale on the web still offers great chances to Italian operators. In this segment, in fact, a local operator guarantees the knowledge of area and the product that foreign one cannot provide. Obviously this is fundamental. Internet is important for issues related to experience before and after the trip, not only for the issues related to the sale. During the preparation of a trip, to read the experiences of other travellers can play a decisive role in choosing a destination. Comments on the web are equivalent to word of mouth for those who are preparing a holiday. The case of Italy fits well in this context of renewal. In recent years, Italy has lost competitiveness and has a great need to innovate channels and ways of tourist supply. 2 Travel must represent a way to live and to experience the places, not just a way to see them. The tourist/traveller will remember the emotions experienced by visiting the sites of the story (such as the Colosseum and the Fori Imperiali) or some natural areas (such as the Dolomites), he will not remember the hotel or the flight. Also the visits to exhibitions and/or museums can be an unforgettable experience. These structures thanks to the technology became a real "sanctuary of experience", here the visitor becomes an actor. The Galata Museo del Mare in Genoa, a coastal town in Northern-West Italy overlooking the Tyrrhenian Sea, it is certainly a tourist attraction in which to achieve a high impact experience. Galata is considered the largest maritime museum among the Italian maritime museums for the quality and innovation of its reconstructions. Visitors can immerse themselves in scientific and formal high-quality reconstructions that faithfully reproduce the lives of sailors, passengers, emigrants and immigrants. One of the aim of this article is to verify how the experience strategy has influenced the stage and the philosophy of Galata museum by interviews with a witness. Another is to verify, by analysing the visitors comments presents in TripAdvisor, how and as the experience of the Galata tourist was profound and unforgettable.
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Utilizza questo identificativo per citare o creare un link a questo documento: https://hdl.handle.net/11567/810242
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