The Geography of the Experience Economy in Denmark: Employment Change and Location Dynamics in Attendance-based Experience Industries

Recently the “experience economy” has been promoted as a vehicle for urban and regional growth, also in peripheral cities and regions. Little evidence is, however, provided to sustain this claim. To inform the discussion of the experience economy as a potential for urban and regional growth, the article provides an analysis of location dynamics and employment growth of a specific segment of the experience economy, the attendance-based experience industries, in Danish municipalities from 1993 to 2006. Based on the analysis, it is concluded that the emerging experience economy in the Danish context produces new forms of uneven geographies: first, employment growth is significantly higher in large cities compared with that in small- and medium-sized cities, and second, the level of education for persons employed in the experience economy is higher in the largest cities compared with that in small- and medium-sized cities. Hence, the potential of the experience economy as a vehicle for growth even in peripheral cities and regions has in many cases (not yet) been fulfilled. Thus, using the experience economy as a lever to obtain future prosperity may be a very fragile strategy for the majority of cities and municipalities outside the main growth centres and classic tourist destinations.