Equally important, tourism is not the only arena in which authenticity is staged. All societies create traditions, accept elements from outside, invent ceremonies, and reinvent themselves for both sacred and secular purposes. All viable cultures are in the process of "making themselves up" all the time. In a general sense, all culture is "staged authenticity." If this is so, it is useless to argue that because tourism often involves the staging of cultural authenticity, it is necessarily a destructive force. We must come to understand when the staging of authenticity is a destructive force and when it is not.
A review of three cases will reveal how tourism influences cultural change. In each case the role is different, but the causes of these differences are not easily captured.,/P>