Experience Economy Scale

What it measures

Operationalises Pine & Gilmore's (1999) Experience Economy framework for tourism contexts across four experience realms. Educational experiences involve active participation and learning (expand knowledge and skills). Escapist experiences involve full immersion in activities (becoming a different person, losing track of time). Entertainment experiences involve passive absorption of stimuli (watching performances, spectating). Esthetic experiences involve passive immersion in a beautiful or stimulating environment (scenic, atmospheric). The framework moves tourism research beyond service quality toward staged experience design.

Response format

Likert (1–7, strongly disagree to strongly agree)

Scale items

Educational Experience — actively engaging the mind (Likert 1–7, strongly disagree to strongly agree)

• This experience enhanced my knowledge.
• I learned a lot from this experience.
• This experience stimulated my curiosity to learn.
• This experience helped me improve my skills.
• This experience enriched my understanding of the subject.
• I was mentally stimulated during this experience.

Entertainment Experience — passively absorbing the activity

• I enjoyed watching and listening during this experience.
• This experience was fun and enjoyable.
• I was entertained by this experience.
• This experience kept me amused.
• I found this experience pleasurable to observe.
• This experience provided good entertainment value.

Aesthetic Experience — immersion in the environment

• The environment of this experience was attractive.
• The atmosphere of this experience was appealing.
• I was captivated by the setting and surroundings.
• The design of this experience was aesthetically pleasing.
• I liked the look and feel of this experience environment.
• The visual aspects of this experience were outstanding.

Escapist Experience — actively participating in an alternate reality

• I felt that I was in a different place entirely during this experience.
• I was totally immersed in this experience.
• I felt a part of the experience rather than just an observer.
• This experience made me feel like I was transported to another world.
• I became completely absorbed in this experience.
• I forgot about my daily routine during this experience.

Full scale items shown. Always cite the original source when using this scale in research.

Usage notes & scoring

Four subscale scores. Escapist and Esthetic realms are the strongest predictors of overall satisfaction and revisit intention in leisure tourism contexts. Educational realm is dominant in heritage, museum, and cultural tourism. Esthetic realm is most important in natural and scenic destination contexts. Freely cited and widely reproduced in experiential tourism design research.

Recommended companion scales

Citation

Oh, H., Fiore, A.M., & Jeoung, M. (2007). Measuring experience economy concepts: Tourism applications. Journal of Travel Research, 46(2), 119–132.

Keywords