3 SENSES IN TOURISM EXPERIENCE DESIGN – Contributions by Dora Agapito
3 SENSES IN TOURISM EXPERIENCE DESIGN – Contributions by Dora Agapito
Since the beginning of my PhD at the Faculty of Economics, University of Algarve (Portugal), over ten years ago, I have centred my research around the senses in tourism experience design and consumer behaviour. By the time the thesis proposal was prepared, a small number of studies had been conducted in tourism, focusing on a managerial perspective. The decision was to address the role of sensescapes in tourist experiences in rural areas. The first paper, which was part of this PhD, was a multidisciplinary approach to the senses, which helped to further the conceptualisation of the sensory dimension of tourist experiences, and proposed a theoretical framework based on external factors and internal factors that influence the tourists’ perception and outcomes (Agapito, Mendes & Valle, 2013). In 2021, this work had received more than 250 citations in Google Scholar, contributing to further developments in the topic (e.g., Brochado, Stoleriu & Lupu, 2021; Elvekrok & Gulbrandsøy, 2021; Kastenholz, Marques & Carneiro, 2020; Lv, Li & McCabe, 2020).
The key role of managing sensory aspects of tourism experiences is based on evidence of the effects of sensory stimuli in human perception, memory, attitudes and behaviour. This argument is supported by various fields with complementary approaches, such as environmental psychology, consumer psychology, cognitive psychology, human geography, marketing and consumer behaviour, neuroscience, sociology, and anthropology (Agapito et al., 2013; Agapito, 2020; Goldstein & Brockmole, 2017; Krishna, 2012; Kim & Fesenmaier, 2017a).
An empirical study concluded that rural areas encompass local resources rich in multi-sensory stimuli that could be utilised to facilitate enhanced tourist experiences by focusing on the sensory perception of different segments of tourists based on motivations and activities performed at the destination. This research found that sensory information (e.g., specific sounds, scents, colours, flavours and textures) could be used to theme tourism experiences and segment tourists, focusing on sustainable local development (Agapito, Pinto & Mendes, 2014).
A longitudinal study showed the relevance of sensory diversity (sensory stimuli) as a facilitator of memorable destination experiences by showing the link between long-term memory of sensory impressions and destination loyalty (Agapito et al., 2017). This research was then furthered by other studies, such as the one conducted by Lv and colleagues (2020), which expanded the theory of tourists’ destination loyalty by centring on the role of sensory impressions.
A recent systematic literature review included in the curated collection in tourism design of Annals of Tourism Research revealed that a multi-sensory approach to tourism experiences, instead of isolated sensory modalities (e.g., visual elements), has received increasing attention among scholars from 2013 onwards (Agapito, 2