MICEBOOK - LUXE REPORT 5 - Flipbook - Page 7
The Next Chapter
She continues:
“Over the last ten years or so, we
have seen the emergence of the
experience economy, and we’re now
entering the next chapter of the
journey, which is what we call the
transformation economy.”
What that means for the luxury travel
and event companies is that travellers
and audiences are demanding more.
They are looking for journeys and
experiences that enable them to
become beer versions of themselves,
to experience some level of
enlightenment, to upskill or evolve as a
human being and create lasting
change in their lives.
Authors B. Joseph Pine II and James H. Gilmore first wrote about the ‘Experience
Economy’ – the concept of consumers seeking enjoyable brand experiences over
products. They later developed the notion of the ‘Transformation Economy’ – an
economy where experiences are elevated from mere enjoyment to actual personal
transformation.
Southan says that the transformation economy arises from our human desire to
reach the highest tier of Maslow’s hierarchy of needs - self actualisation, as
demonstrated through Globetrender’s hierarchy of travel motivations (see
diagram on page 09). Transformative travel was first identified as a concept back
in 2016 but has gained traction to become a growing trend in recent years,
especially since the pandemic.
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