Samenvatting

The current Western Economy can be described as an experience economy which is focused on creating unique experiences for consumers. When emotional value is added to the experience of a product or service, consumers are willing to pay a higher price for these types of experiences than for products without this emotional value. Within the tourism sector this is also a trend that can be seen and which the tourism sector needs to anticipate on. By adding emotional value, the product or service will create a unique experience which is considered as added value to the product or service.
Governments and tourist boards are recognizing that sustainability within the tourism sector is getting increasingly important. When tourists will behave according to sustainable standards the vacations of these tourists will not only improve sustainability but also maintain it within the region.
The Catalan Tourist Board has insufficient insight into the experience of sustainable tourists from the Benelux area who book their holidays in Catalonia. This creates difficulties for the Catalan Tourist Board when asked to provide information and advice to members of the Catalan Tourist Board to improve their businesses and adjust their accommodation to meet the demands and needs of the sustainable Benelux tourist. Therefore, it can also not provide advices on future investments which will need to be necessary to accommodate this new type of tourist.
The aim of this research is to gain more insight into the experience of the sustainable tourist from the Benelux in Catalonia. With this knowledge, the Catalan Tourist Board can provide substantiated advice to its members and local tourist boards within Catalonia on investment and point of focus. Therefore, the following research question has been drawn up: How does the sustainable tourist from the Benelux experience its stay in Catalonia?
In order to answer this question, qualitative research has been conducted by means of desk research and conducting interviews with respondents from various locations in Catalonia. Since there wasn’t a specific target group except for the fact that the respondents needed to have either booked or participated in a sustainable accommodation or activities, selected sampling was used. The interviews were transcribed afterwards and subsequently encoded by using NVivo Pro.
The research has shown that the experience consists of a personal, social and physical context. These contexts are strongly depending on the characteristics, motives and activities performed by the respondents. The respondents in this study presented six main motives towards choosing for this type of vacation and for choosing the region Catalonia. Furthermore, a distinction was made between the types of activities that these tourists perform during their holidays. A main activity that proved to be the most common activity between all the respondents in this research was to be active outdoors.
Based on the results, it can be concluded that there is no single answer which can provide a proper insight into the question of how does the sustainable tourist from the Benelux experience its stay in Catalonia. Due to the fact that how these tourists experience their stay is depending on the combination of characteristics, motives and activities performed during their stay.
It is recommended that the Catalan Tourist Board advices their members to focus on creating a unique experience for a specific target group. It is important to choose one or a combination of certain target groups to be able to properly accommodate the needs or expectations of these groups. By paying attention to the strong and most appreciated points which are mentioned by respondents, the members of the Catalan Tourist Board can distinguish their business and make it as attractive as possible to sustainable tourists. It is also recommended that the Catalan Tourist Board organises workshops to bring the members and the employees of the Catalan Tourist Board together to see how they can implement certain strategies to make this change happen.