Kotler et al. (2017) defines a product as anything that can be offered to a market for attention, acquisition, use, or consumption that might satisfy a want or need, which includes physical objects, services, persons, places, organisation, and ideas. Kotler et al. (2018) develops three levels or components of a product: core, tangible and augmented. Core product means the fulfilment of the consumer’s primary need, which is the main driver for the product purchase. A tangible product is the physical benefits offered, such as packaging, quality, features, design, and brand name. The third component is augmented products, which means the elements that differentiate them from competitors through the inclusion of perceived added value. This value consists of the speed of service, payment options, after-sales service and so on. It is the augmented aspects of the product that can enable it to gain an advantage over competitor offerings. Similarly, tourism products have three levels.

The tourism product is structured with five elements. Smith (1994) defines the tourism product as the facilitation of travel and activity of individuals away from their usual home environment. There are five elements comprising the tourism product (Table 1): the physical plant, service, hospitality, freedom of choice and involvement. There is an order from the core, the physical plant to the shell involvement, which is correlated with declining direct management control, increasing the consumer involvement, increasing intangibility, and decreasing potential for empirical measurement. The success of a tourism product in meeting the needs of tourists is determined by how well each element is designed and integrated with the others and whether it is a synergistic interaction among all the components.

The structure of the tourism product is a result of the complex tourism production process. Table 2 lists the process of tourism products, which starts from the primary input of resource, raw materials, and other components, such as construction materials, fuel and so on. These are then transferred into the intermediate inputs or tourism facilities. Intermediate inputs contain attractions such as national parks, museums, galleries, historical sites, as well as tourism supports and facilitators (hotel, restaurants, gift shops, and so on). The intermediate inputs are then further refined through managerial expertise, technical services, scheduling, and packaging into intermediate outs. The intermediate outs are the services associated with the tourism industry, such as commercial accommodation, tour services, food services, and festivals. These services are just potential commodity because of the lack of tourists participants. Tourists refine these services, then form the final output-personal experience, which characterises intangible and highly valued experiences such as recreation, business, and social contacts (Smith, 1994).

Two features of tourism products are generated during this process. First, value-added. Second, the consumer is an integral part of the production process.

The physical plant element is incorporated into the generic product at the primary input and intermediate input phases. In the stages of intermediate input and intermediate output, the service and hospitality are integrated. Further, the final process of production, freedom of choice and involvement transform the intermediate outputs into the experiences of the final output phase.

According to Kotler et al. (2017), the levels of tourism products can be identified in Figure 1.

Sum of above, imaginative and successful product needs a clear understanding of the nature of the tourism product. However, as the elements of tourism product, especial freedom of choice and involvement are a close relation to the tourists’ experience, the tourism product development is needed to meet the variance of the tourist needs and wants.

Product development is any good, service or idea that someone perceives as a

novel or new (Kotler et al., 2002) or the act of creating a new product or process (Crawford, 1994). Many definitions of product development focus on the word “new”, based on the definitions of Kotler & Armstrong (2004), Keengan et al. (1995), and Cooper (1993), Hassanien et al. (2010) concludes new products in the hospitality industry are new product lines (new products that allow a company to enter an established market for the first time); additions to existing product lines (new products that supplement a company’s established product lines) or improvements to existing products (new products that provide increased performance or greater perceived value and replaced existing products) (Table 3).

Hassanien et al. (2010) follow the Booz, Allen, & Hamilton (1982) model of new product development (Table 4) as follows.

In the tourism industry, the changing market, especially the consumer’s needs, tastes and wants, is an important information source for new product development (Hassanien et al., 2010). The company can develop new product according to the consumers’ feedback, especially dissatisfactions.

UNWTO (2019) highlights that travel changes to live like a local and require authenticity and transformation. Travellers are increasingly demanding an authentic and experiential-oriented opportunity with meaningful social interactions with local people, which drives them to travel more often, stay longer, and participate in more activities (Tussyadiah & Pesonen, 2016).

Authenticity links to something real or genuine experience, which is a critical consumer sensibility (Pine & Gilmore, 2008). Tourism scholars define authenticity as existential authenticity (Wang, 1999), essentialism (the authenticity reflects a true image of the past) and constructivism perspectives (a subject to contemporary inputs and influences) (Chhabra, 2008). However, this discussion has been considered a sociological concern rather than a managerial issue.

Kolar and Zabkar’s (2010) develop a consumer-based model of authenticity comprised of object-based authenticity and existential authenticity. Object-based authenticity is a desire to visit and see original sites and artefacts and purchase souvenirs. Experience, knowledge and enjoyment are generated in genuine objects, arts and crafts. Existential authenticity is an interest in escaping everyday life and mass tourism, getting in touch with the true self, self-actualisation. During this process, a sense of enjoyment and escape, experience of the true self in the context of a foreign place, time and culture are generated. Furthermore, object-based authenticity has a positive impact on existential authenticity. However, cultural motivation positively affects both types of authenticity. Authenticity is the enjoyment of tourists and the tourists’ perception of “how genuine are their experiences”. It is often considered as an important driver, value, motive or interest.

According to Ram et al. (2016), authenticity is comprised of objective authenticity (based on trustworthy, original, first hand, true in substance), symbolic authenticity (determined by tourists, being subjective, negotiable and contextual. It contains exceptional authenticity and referential authenticity. Exceptional authenticity refers to what “people tend to perceive as authentic that is done exceptionally well, executed individually and extraordinarily by someone demonstrating human care. Not unfeelingly or disingenuously performed.” Referential authentic refers to some other context, drawing inspiration from human history, and tapping into our shared memories and longings, rather than derivative or trivial), and existential authenticity (philosophical discussion of self in context and a reflection of how true one is to oneself balancing two parts one’s, rational and emotional) (Figure 2).

Furthermore, in the era of sharing economy, authenticity has become a core feature in tourism (Paulauskaite et al., 2017).

Sharing economy is often considered to link to Web 2.0, which changes the model of value production and the distribution of resource. Web 2.0 reduces the

transaction cost; on the one hand, hand it allows the trust is established between the host and the guest (Gretzel, 2015; Guttentag, 2015). Airbnb is part of a larger rise in the sharing of tourism (Guttentag, 2015). Airbnb was born in 2007 as an online platform, which describes itself as one of the world’s largest marketplaces for unique, authentic places to stay and things to do, offering over 7 million accommodations and 40,000 handcrafted activities, all powered by local hosts (Airbnb, 2019). According to Airbnb (2019), Airbnb has more than 500 million guests in 2019, with over 5 million lists in 191 counties and regions. Recently, Airbnb allows local people to monetise their interests, speciality and passions on the platform.

China’s sharing economy keeps a high speed of growth, with 30% per year. According to the report released by Sharing Economy Research Center of the State Information Center, in 2017, the market turnover reached $763.5 billion, growing 47.2% from the previous year. More than 700 million people were involved in the sharing economy, an increase of 10 million over 2016 (Chinadaily, 2018).

China’s tourism continued to grow at a rapid speed in 2018. According to the Ministry of Culture and Tourism of the People’s Republic of China (2019), the domestic tourists reached 5.54 billion, up 10.76% year-on-year, which brought the domestic revenue $764 billion, an increase of 12.3% over 2017. The inbound tourist arrivals reached 141.2 million, which contributed to the inbound tourism revenue of $127.1 billion, up 3.0% from the previous year. Figure 3 shows the development of sharing economy and tourism in China.