Authenticity in Cultural Tourism
What is Authenticity
- Authenticity is a social construct that is
determined in part by the individual’s own
knowledge and frame of reference
Typologies of Authenticity
- Objective authenticity
- Constructed authenticity
- staged authenticity
- customized authenticity
- Post – modern authenticity
- Hyper - reality
Objective authenticity (Maccannell , 1973)
- Traditional or historical site or artifacts
Authenticity is relevant to some kinds, of
tourism such as ethnic, history or culture
tourism, which involve the representation of
the Other or of the past.
Constructed authenticity (cohen, 1988)
- Cultural products are staged for tourists and
Decorated to look authentic
- Staged authenticity or Customized authenticity:
Commoditization destroys the authenticity of local
culture.
- In some instances traditional artefacts may be modified in size to fit into tourists’ suitcases, materials may be used to meet quarantine restrictions and coloured to suit tourists’ tates.
- the authenticity of the celebration has been compromised for the benefit of tourists.
Post – modern authenticity (wang, 1999)
- The concept is to simple for explaining contemporary tourism.
- Authenticity of tourism divided into two categories
- 1) The authenticity experience
- An authentic experience . . . is one in which individuals feel themselves to be in touch both with a real world and with their real selves (Handler & saxton 1988:243).
- 2) The toured object.
Post - modern authenticity
- Catering to the postmodern tourist who
- seeks rapidly changing art/enter-/edutainment
- seeks extraordinary and individualistic experiences
- who expects experiences to be produced but presented as real
- Has not always time to cross the globe to visit
- who has been socialized into consuming by gazing – the tourist gaze is demanding
The representation of landscapes in Heritage Tourism
- Built elements such as museums, archaeological sites, castles and monuments diverse past and present landscapes that are an essential element of national representation with the potential to perpetually remind nationals of the symbolic foundation upon which a sense of belonging is based.
Construct Authenticity – good or bad?
- Staged authenticity protects hosts from intrusion, yet allow commercial benefits of tourism