Co-creating Locally Embedded Rural Tourist Experiences Using Coopetition Strategies: Insights From Village Tourism in Portugal

Abstract Rural tourism has become increasingly popular given its opportunities to get to know local traditions and lifestyles, to immerse in appealing cultural and natural landscapes and to enjoy a calm and relaxing atmosphere, contrasting stressful city life. Additionally, visitors seek personalised, unique and memorable experiences and immersion in rural places, which could be fostered by co-creative and authentic multisensory experiences. The co-creation of value resulting from tourists' interaction with rural destinations' multiple local agents and resources calls for articulation and even coopetition amongst these agents who may benefit from joining efforts to compete not against each other but together within a wider competitive context to, thus, achieve a stronger, unique market position. This chapter presents a qualitative, exploratory case study, illustrating the overall rural tourist experience lived and co-created in a Portuguese schist village. Semi-structured interviews were applied to visitors, supply and development agents and to the local community in order to understand their perspective regarding the nature, quality and potential of the village experience. Experience co-creation seemed to have a positive impact on visitors' satisfaction. The coopetition approach was also identified in the discourse of supply and development agents who recognised the importance of cooperation, also within the Schist Village Network yielding a more cohesive and attractive tourism product in the village. Aligning locally embedded co-creation experiences and coopetition amongst local actors seems to be a strategic approach for fostering appealing, competitive and sustainable rural tourism experiences.