Critical Issues in Tourism Co-Creation

Book excerpt: Co-creation is fast becoming a buzz word in tourism. Traditional approaches to value creation in tourism suggest that operators and suppliers produce goods and services which are consumed by tourists. The value produced is usually measured in economic terms. Co-creation challenges these assumptions, arguing that tourism producers and consumers co-create value together and that this value is more diverse than just economic value. Technologies underpinning social media, ratings and review tools and e-commerce are facilitating the creation of diverse values, and have been responsible for driving innovation in, for example, new business models such as the collaborative economy. Social, environmental, emotional, reputational and other kinds of value may also be produced, and a wide range of stakeholders, not just producers or consumers, might also benefit from the value co-creation process. This edited volume seeks to go beyond the dominant business/management/marketing perspectives that focus on the co-creation of market value and innovation, to excavate complex and critical episodes of co-creation in tourism. By engaging authors from both the academy and beyond, it explores the rich historical linage of co-creation and its contemporary practices. The chapters in this book were originally published in Tourism Recreation Research.