Tourism has become one of the central cultural practices of our time. The year \u00a02018 has set a new record of international tourist arrivals: 1,4 billion, according to the World Tourism Organization (UNTWO). The factors behind these all-time high numbers are many and range from cheap flights to online review and booking systems. If tourism is on the rise – or at least it was until the COVID-19 pandemic, which certainly put a dent in its otherwise continuous growth – so is its role in the global economy. The effects of mass tourism, however, go far beyond its economic impact: it is a highly semiotic practice which influences strongly the meaning and perception of the cities and places involved, both for the tourists and for their inhabitants.<\/p>\n
In this context, a specific strategy of valorisation is gaining relevance and importance: gamification. In this paper, the authros aim to identify and engage with the ludic evolution of touristic practices and discourses, and offer an overview of how innovative forms of digital marketing exploit the interstitial intertextuality typical of convergent culture [1] and the playful elements of gamification [2] to valorise touristic destinations.<\/p>\n
After outlining the basis for a semiotic analysis of tourism, the paper focuses on experiential tourism and its possible connections with the ludification of culture – the cultural trend that sees games, toys and play become more and more central in our semiosphere [3].<\/p>\n
In 2011 WTM predicted that gamification would become a popular trend for tourism. Since then, the academic interest on gamification and tourism has mostly focused on how gamification could influence consumer behaviour [4][5]. While the number of studies addressing on gamification in the tourism industry is still limited, a recent literature review [6] underlines positive results in the implementation of gamification in the various phases\u00a0 of\u00a0 travel, claiming that it is capable of informing users, making them more involved and\u00a0 participates\u00a0 in\u00a0 the\u00a0 co-creation\u00a0 of value.<\/p>\n
In this article the authors try to shed some light on a wider set of examples, focusing on how gamefulness and playfulness have become integral part of many touristic activities. In particular, they focus on the following case studies:<\/p>\n
In conclusion, the different case studies analysed in the paper seem to confirm the importance of the relationship between tourism and gamification in current times and to portray it as a larger phenomenon than normally accepted. Both tourism and gamification are guided by the same craving for experiences that seems to characterise the denizens of a liquid<\/em> world. Both respond to this craving with their own strategies of valorisation, resemantising the places and the objects of everyday life, adding to them new layers of meaning in order to make them shiny and memorable. Not surprisingly, then, these two phenomena give rise to many possible synergies, many of which are already been exploited by professionals and companies to promote and sell both touristic services and games.<\/p>\n Digital Playful Tourism- Meaning\u2013making between Place Promotion and Gamification<\/strong><\/p>\n
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