Past and future of theme parks: customer experiences as a trump card

The article discusses the role of customer experiences provided by theme parks that are a special kind of tourist attraction forming a unique tourist product. The goal of the study is to identify promising ways to boost the quality of theme park design and service in Russia. A systematic and situational approach, as well as formal logical analysis and desk research are the main research methods. Based on the literature review on the approaches to theme park specifics and the role of tourist experiences in gaining customer loyalty, the authors discuss the development of theme parks in Russia and abroad, as well as major trends that affect their future development. Among these are: the search to combine elements from different park types; networking, both in terms of collaborative relationships with park stakeholders and in terms of building networks of parks under a single brand; the creation of unusual theme parks that meet the specific interests of niche tourists audiences; increased use of VR/AR technologies. The main paths of future research are benchmarking best management practices and the development of an adapted system of indicators for theme parks in Russia to assess the quality of tourist product provided for park visitors.