Free Walking Tour Enterprises in Europe: An Evolutionary Economic Approach

Abstract

The emergence of the collaborative economy has promoted the rise of numerous profit and non-profit businesses that are flourishing. Some of the business features within this alternative tourism industry are devoted to the support of a moral economy based on social responsibility, sustainable trade, fair labour practices, and social and environmental awareness. In this framework, new trends are appearing within the tourism/travel/leisure industries all over the world. This chapter outlines an exploratory approach to how firms within the collaborative economy operate. The empirical focus is on the “free” or “pay-what-you-want” tours in Europe, which appeal to the free exchange of local knowledge among travellers. It analyses business models and behaviours based on the evolutionary economics concepts of knowledge, innovation and path-dependency. Taking as the main case studies Barcelona and Berlin, this approach allows us to understand the collaborative market and how this affects the relationship between business and tourists by examining the moral affordances, controversies and risks in the context of collaborative economy practices.