Shopping centres and tourism destinations: similarities and differences according to cases in Finland

Abstract

The characteristics of contemporary shopping centres and tourism destinations have become more uniform. Shops and stores in the context of tourism destinations have become common and, on the other hand, shopping centres have adopted several features, such as sportiness and spacious construction, from tourism destinations. Furthermore, experiences – typical outputs of tourism destinations – have been emphasized also in the context of shopping centres. In this article, which is based on a literature review and an enquiry, the focus is on the found differences and similarities between shopping centres and tourism destinations, and possibilities and benefits of combining some features of these two research subjects by using some destinations and centres as case study examples. The main finding is that by combining the features of these two forms of leisure centres, there are possibilities to increase their attraction. The study reveals that there already are several joint perspectives in the development activities and studies of these two forms of leisure centres, a fact which challenges to develop a new unified framework of research in the future.

Keywords:

• shopping centre
• tourism destination
• Finland
• customers
• experiences

ACKNOWLEDGEMENT

The author wishes to express thanks to Business of Leisure Centers (VAPAA LIIKE) and its colleagues, especially project leader Professor Susan Meriläinen and project manager Raimo Jänkälä for their advice.