Destinations are often tempted to chase the next “big win”: a signature attraction, a blockbuster event, or a shiny piece of infrastructure that promises to put them on the map. But experience design, like investing, doesn’t reward those who go all-in on a single stock.
No smart investor would put their entire life savings into Apple or Tesla, no matter how strong the story. Instead, they diversify, spreading their portfolio across different sectors and time horizons. They know markets shift, tastes evolve, and resilience comes from balance.
The same principle applies to tourism. This is the essence of what we call the Visitor Experience Continuum (VEC).
Rather than seeing experiences as isolated products, the VEC treats them as a portfolio of assets. Each sits somewhere along a spectrum of accessibility, exclusivity, and other criteria. Some are broad-access and high-volume, others are rare, immersive, and bespoke. The value comes not from any single experience, but from the way they work together as a balanced, resilient portfolio.
The hidden advantage
Destinations that over-index on mass-market activities risk commoditisation. Those that rely too heavily on ultra-exclusive offers risk fragility when the market shifts. The VEC helps leading destinations avoid both extremes.
Its real advantage is agility. Just as investors rebalance their portfolios to respond to recessions, booms, or emerging sectors, destinations can shift emphasis across their experience portfolio as global travel patterns change.
Demand may swing towards affordable, accessible travel during an economic downturn, then pivot to nature and wellness after a global shock, or tilt towards sustainable and authentic experiences as younger generations become the dominant travellers. Even climate impacts can redirect flows, closing off some regions while opening others. The VEC gives destinations the flexibility to adapt to these shifts without losing momentum.
The design levers
What makes the VEC practical is its set of design levers. These are the attributes that can be dialled up or down to reposition an experience, such as access, group size, staff ratio, sensory richness, personalisation, automation and more.
The art is in how these levers are combined. A standard hiking trail can be elevated by adding seasonal scarcity, expert storytelling, or regenerative participation. A high-volume attraction can be made more resilient by offering layered, self-guided pathways that keep it accessible while still distinctive.
The VEC isn’t a rigid scoring tool. It’s a shared design language that helps operators and leaders actively shape their portfolio.
Why this matters for destinations
For developers, tourism boards, and operators, the VEC delivers three clear benefits:
- Differentiation: it pushes destinations to design experiences that can’t simply be copied elsewhere. Place-dependency becomes a strategic asset.
- Risk Management: a diversified portfolio hedges against volatility. When luxury demand softens, accessible experiences carry the load. When mass markets dip, high-value niches sustain momentum.
- Compounding Value: visitors rarely exhaust a destination in one trip. By layering experiences across the VEC, you create reasons to return, each visit revealing a new tier of meaning, memory, and investment.
The VEC reframes experience design as portfolio building. It’s not about a single hero product. It’s about curating an ecosystem where every layer, from accessible entry points to rare, deeply personal moments, contributes to the destination’s long-term value.
Investors know compounding returns are built over time, not by betting everything on one hot stock. Destinations are the same. Those that diversify their visitor experience portfolios will be the ones that thrive, whatever the market throws at them.