Walk through any major European city on a weekend and the economy you encounter looks different from the one that existed fifteen years ago. Fewer department stores. More immersive dining concepts, pop-up events, escape rooms, wellness studios, and cultural markets. The shift from selling things to selling moments is not a trend driven by taste — it is a structural transformation in how urban economies generate value, and it is accelerating.
The Consumption Model That Ran Out of Road
The twentieth-century consumer economy was built around goods. Ownership was the goal — the car, the appliance, the wardrobe. That model worked until material saturation set in. In markets where most people already own most things they need, the marginal utility of another product is low. Differentiation through objects becomes harder as manufacturing quality converges and prices compress.
As far back as 1998, the rise of experiences was acknowledged as the next state for the consumer economy, delivering memories instead of just products or services. What took longer to materialise was the infrastructure. The platforms, venues, and urban spaces capable of delivering experiences at scale — and the consumer willingness to pay for them — took two more decades to develop fully.
The pandemic accelerated the timeline. Enforced absence from live events, restaurants, and cultural spaces produced a rebound in experiential spending that has not fully dissipated. The behaviour it reinforced — prioritising doing over owning — has been most pronounced among younger urban consumers who grew up in an environment of material abundance and digital saturation simultaneously.
The City as Experience Infrastructure
An optimal level of “play” real estate—retail, hospitality, museums, theatres, arenas, and stadiums—is linked to strong outcomes for a city’s GDP, foot traffic, and property valuations. It plays a key role in supporting economic vitality in walkable urban areas.
In practical terms, cities that invest in cultural programming, nightlife infrastructure, and experiential venues outperform those that do not. This advantage is visible not only in tourism revenue but also in their ability to attract and retain residents and businesses.
The global night-time tourism market is projected to triple by 2035. Cities like New York already generate over $35 billion annually after dark. The “24-hour city” is therefore not just a planning ideal. It is a clear economic strategy.
Decisions about where to live, visit, or invest influence trillions in global spending each year. These decisions are increasingly shaped by lifestyle and cultural assets, rather than proximity to jobs or transport links alone.
Cities in the UAE and Saudi Arabia have risen an average of 33 places in Savills’ Resilient Cities Index. This growth is largely driven by ambitious infrastructure projects. These projects aim to compete on liveability and experience, not just cost.
Reimagining business districts as places where people choose to spend time is now a mainstream goal. It is no longer just about creating areas people commute to.
The Generational Engine
The structural shift has a demographic motor. According to Mastercard Economics Institute’s 2025 European survey, travel, outdoor activities, and dining top the list of spending priorities — with 70% of Europeans saying that checking off bucket-list activities is a top priority. The pattern holds globally. In China, while retail sales for traditional physical goods have stabilised at modest growth of 3.6%, spending on services and experiences has surged by over 12% in 2026.
The mechanism is partly psychological. Experiences generate memories, social currency, and a sense of personal development in ways that objects typically do not. For a generation whose identity is partly constructed and communicated through digital platforms, a concert, a cooking class, or an immersive art installation is both a personal event and a social signal. The experience is the product — and its value extends beyond the moment of consumption.
From Occasional to Everyday
The most significant recent shift is not that people value experiences — that has been true for decades — but that experiential consumption has moved from occasional to habitual. Experiences were once defined by travel and annual events. Increasingly, they define the weekly rhythm of urban life.
Demographic shifts, the prioritisation of health and wellness, digital technology, and affordability pressures are reshaping how people spend their time and money in cities. The result is a consumer who is not saving up for a once-a-year holiday as their primary experience expenditure, but spending regularly on local activities — fitness, food, culture, community — as core lifestyle infrastructure.
Experience attracts people to live, work, and participate in a city. That makes it foundational to prosperity — even if it is not always the most “productive” sector in conventional economic terms. Cities that treat experience as a strategic asset rather than a cultural amenity are drawing the right conclusion. The ones that don’t are pricing themselves out of the competition for residents, visitors, and investment — not by being expensive, but by being boring.
Key Sources
- Cushman & Wakefield, “The Rise of the Experiential Economy”: https://www.cushmanwakefield.com/en/united-states/insights/the-rise-of-the-experiential-economy
- Hatch, “How London is taking the experience economy seriously”: https://www.hatch.com/About-Us/Publications/Blogs/2025/08/How-London-is-taking-the-experience-economy-seriously
- Mastercard Economics Institute, “Europeans Redefine Travel in 2025”: https://www.mastercard.com/news/europe/en/newsroom/press-releases/en/2025/european-travel-in-2025-mastercard-economics-institute-reveals-a-shift-toward-wellness-nature-and-bucket-list-dreams/
- Savills, “Resilient Cities Index 2026”: https://impacts.savills.com/environment/resilient-cities-2026-infrastructure-liveability-and-the-opportunities-ahead.html
- WEF, “Top urban transformation stories of 2025”: https://www.weforum.org/stories/2026/01/the-top-urban-transformation-stories-of-2025/
- Hub of China, “Experience Economy: China’s 2026 Consumer Trends”: https://hubofchina.com/experience-chinas-consumer-trends-2026/
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