The Co-creation of Animal-based Tourism Experience

The purpose of this research note is to present some reflections on the role of animals in animal-based tourism experiences. It is inspired by those tourism studies concerning the conceptualization of animals and human-animal relationships (e.g., Curtin 2005, 2009, 2010; Woods 2000; Cohen 2012). Some of these studies qualify the domain in which encounters between the tourists and the animals occur as the place where humanity and animality meet. Thus, these encounters are viewed as particularly complex and meaningful. Although these studies concern wildlife tourism, it can reasonably be assumed that similar considerations are valid for any form of tourism that includes animals. This study focuses on the case of domesticated animals. People who live in close contact with domesticated animals tend to view them from the perspective of both their animality and also their individual subjectivity (Fox 2006). This observation can be relevant to those tourism activities that involve domesticated animals (e.g., dog sledding, equine tourism). Although the studies mentioned at the beginning of this section can be viewed as a sign of recognition by some tourism scholars of animals as important elements of the tourism experience, the dominant position in the literature seems to be characterized by a view of animals as rather passive elements. This study proposes a conceptualization of human-animal encounters focused on the central and active role played by the animals. Moreover, it is proposed that tourism experiences in which the tourists can interact closely with one or more animals can be viewed as encounters among subjects. The point of departure is the co-creation approach to the tourism experience.