Experience Asia: The Science of Crafting Experiences

Experience Asia through the Experience Design and Management study abroad. The program will include Thailand, Singapore, Japan, and South Korea. During our travels, we will explore the Japanese concept of omotenashi (おもてなし), which means anticipating someone's needs and providing care that leads to an extraordinary experience, without expecting anything in return. To achieve this, we will participate in a wide range of experiences that demonstrate to us the science behind crafting human-centered experiences.

Learning during this program will be much more than reading or listening to others talk about providing experiences. We will be participating in a wide variety of experiences, from ocean excursions, bike tours, ancient temples, museums, palaces, and natural environments to unique culture-specific experiences. At each venue, we will participate in the experiences they provide and attempt to meet with the venue's management and experience designers to learn about how they design and manage the visitor experience. This will be the foundation for applying the science of experience design. In addition, we will have the opportunity to visit emerging tourist economies, discovering the economic benefits that providing meaningful tourist experiences can have on those communities, and to participate in experiences that have been established for centuries and that helped build very modern economies and societies.

Recently, it has been recognized that venues that design experiences and implement top-tier customer experiences, implementing the omotenashi concept, gain market share over their competition. Thus, this program’s learning outcomes focus on helping students understand how to design and manage meaningful, human-centered experiences in a wide variety of settings. An analysis of venues and co-created staged experiences among some of the iconic attractions in Thailand, Singapore, Japan, and South Korea will provide the context for student learning. Immersion in the exquisite culture and natural beauty of Asia will be the program’s highlights.

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