More and more people are seeking out experiences in their everyday lives. This is also reflected in the growing demand for professional experience providers. In the (sports) tourism sector, experience design serves to enhance the appeal of existing products. The design of so-called “experience settings” aims to create a positive overall experience for guests through infrastructure-based and thematically coordinated staging measures. Using infrastructure-based examples, this research examines the effectiveness of experience staging. The study area is the Rothaarsteig long-distance hiking trail.
Using a comprehensive literature review, the study first defines the necessary meanings and characteristics of key terms such as “experience,” “staging,” “infrastructure-based outdoor activities,” and “hiking.” Due to its proximity to empirical social research, qualitative research methods are employed to study experiences. The research methodology is based on grounded theory. Data analysis from the literature review, expert interviews, and software-assisted content analysis provide insight into the current experience-staging measures on the Rothaarsteig. These include, among other things, the construction and expansion of varied trails and experiential structures, such as viewing platforms, signage, and interactive stations. Using triangulation of qualitative methods, the experiences of hikers on the long-distance trail are documented. Well-known methods, such as visitor-generated photography, photo elicitation, and photo experience diaries, provide insights—from the visitors’ perspective—into their experiences of the trail, the landscape, and nature, among other things. Social and emotional experiences, as well as the experience of cultural and historical landmarks, are also examined. The findings provide important insights into how different groups of people perceive these experiences. From this, conditions for the design of experiential elements can be derived. In addition to insights into the participants’ photo experience diaries, the study provides detailed descriptions of experience-staging processes and practical implementation strategies.
Based on the data from the triangulated methods, a positive impact of the experience staging measures can be confirmed. However, the degree of effectiveness varies across individual focus areas. While the staging measures for products, nature, landscapes, and scenic viewpoints resulted in a significant intensification of the experiences, experience staging was less effective in areas such as recreational and relaxation experiences.