The Experience Economy in 2021

 Last year I wrote a piece published in the Conversation (link to it here) about the possible decline of the experience economy. Six months later and it seems like prospects have, if anything, got even worse.  

The experience economy involves events and activities that are intense, memorable and sociable. For example, live music gigs are a chance to share intense emotions triggered by listening together to a favourite band. 

However, Covid-19 restrictions have hammered such experience economy offerings. Theatres, nightclubs, galleries, theme parks... such places have frequently had to close. 

The question is whether they will reopen to the same extent as before the pandemic? This might seem overly pessimistic, but consumption patterns can change rapidly. 

Will lingering concerns for health and safety put people off returning to shared spaces? Music festivals have celebrated their unsanitary aspects as part of the authentic party vibe. Now they might just seem dirty and dangerous. 

Might experiences disrupted by the past 12 months be forgotten and fade away? Motorshows are looking less and less likely to make a full comeback. After being called off in 2020, many are already announcing 2021 cancellations too. 

Covid-19 has perhaps merely hastened a shift away from the experience economy. Increasingly, people are finding value not in live interactions and events, but through digital exchanges. Streaming services, social media and online shopping have all boomed during lockdowns, but they were rapidly expanding anyway. 

Our experience economy habits may not return because we have further embraced new ones. Thanks to Covid-19, what is considered convenient, comforting or cost-effective, has changed. 

So where does this leave us? The experience economy is not in itself a good thing. I have commented before on its potentially unsustainable aspects. Disruption of and downturn in consumption of experiences may therefore have some positive consequences. 

However, millions of livelihoods depend on the experience economy. So too, many of our social and cultural lives closely involve experiential consumption. 

Covid-19 has created major economic, social and cultural hardships for individuals and communities. The upending of the experience economy is a major part of these. Attention and care will be needed to find a way forward that works for as many people as possible.