Authenticity in Tourism

Section 1: Fundamental Concepts

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1.10 Authenticity in Tourism

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Authenticity in Tourism 41 According to the relationship between authentic-

ity in tourism and the tourism of experience estab- lished by Wang (1999), it is clear that any touristic activity will generate an experience, either positive or negative. Therefore, tourism planners strive to make the experience positive or, instead, both unexpected and unforgettable.

For the postmodernists Reisinger and Steiner (2006), authenticity is irrelevant to tourists, who neither value nor suspect it, instead considering it as a mere marketing strategy. The tourist is not concerned with the barriers between real and fake, original and copy, or reality and symbol. Thus, authenticity is a projection made by the tourists themselves according to their beliefs, expectations, preferences, stereotypical images and awareness gained from their experiences during the trip (objects and places visited). In this sense, authentic- ity is not based on a true evaluation of the native people; instead, it is constructed from the tourist’s awareness. Thus, authenticity is always relative and depends on context (Reisinger and Steiner, 2006).

Wang (1999) proposed a rethink of the authen- ticity of tourist experiences according to a discus- sion based on three approaches: objectivism, constructivism and postmodernism. Although the concept of authenticity is widely used, its ambigui- ties and limitations have been frequently demon- strated insofar as they expand studies on the theme.

For Schudson (1979), Stephen (1990) and Urry (1990), the usefulness of tourists’ experiences or motivations cannot be explained from the conven- tional concept of authenticity.

Thus, tourist practices such as visiting friends and relatives, nature tourism and activities such as shopping or playing sports are not related to the concept of authenticity proposed by MacCannell (1973). For other types of tourism, such as cultural tourism and ethnic tourism, authenticity is an important factor insofar as those types of tourism involve the representation of the other or the past.

For Wang (1999), postmodernism is not a single, unanimous approach. On the contrary, there is a diversity of approaches related to the postmodern paradigm (Hollinshead, 2002).

For Hall (2007), the lack of authenticity or fal- sity is, therefore, essentially an attempt to replicate meanings. In this context, the role of experience is particularly important because of its ability to pro- vide shared meanings through shared experiences.

Thus, the notion of authenticity should not be used

for things or places but instead derived from the individual’s connection with the perception of the everyday world, the environment and the processes generating consequences from these interrelation- ships (Dovey, 1985).

It is important to consider that authenticity in tourism is, for the most part, evaluated according to the tourist’s perception, based on a comparison between spaces and elements that are part of tour- ist attractions, whether original or traditional. In this sense, the concept of authenticity is much more strongly associated with the search for tour- istic experiences, characterized as an important marketing element for promoting the touristic consumption of destinations. However, analysing the authenticity of tourism from a broader per- spective that considers the different actors (tour- ists, the government and residents) can be characterized as making an important contribu- tion to evaluating the primary impacts of tourism on the tourism destination (Getz, 1998; Cole, 2007; Hall, 2007).

Finally, authenticity in tourism is far from a con- sensual topic. Because authenticity is a complex concept open to differing interpretations, it is addressed from different perspectives in the litera- ture, given its importance in the context of touristic activity (Hughes, 1995; Getz, 1998; Wang, 1999;

Reisinger and Steiner, 2006; Cole, 2007; Hall, 2007; Lau, 2010; Shepherd, 2015). In this sense, the development of new studies and the application of these theories appear to be strategic tools for a greater understanding of the touristic phenomenon at destinations.

Operationalizing

Sincerity and Authenticity is a book by Lionel Trilling based on a series of lectures that he deliv- ered in 1970 at Harvard University, which were published in 1972 by Harvard University Press. In this work, Trilling sought to explain the terms ‘sin- cerity’ and ‘authenticity’, although with no clear and concise definition. However, the author used the formula ‘remain true to oneself’ to characterize the modern ideal of authenticity, and differentiated it from the old ideal that one had to be a morally sincere person. To construct the work, Trilling drew on a wide range of literature to defend his thesis, citing a number of Western writers and thinkers from the past 500 years.

42 Chapter 1.10

Exercise

In groups of two or three, select a case study that discusses authenticity in tourism with respect to a particular destination. Then, determine whether there has been an evolution in the analysis of tour- ism’s authenticity for the locality analysed. Use the references listed below as a foundation for your research.

References

Boorstin, D.J. (1992) The Image: a Guide to Pseudo- events in America. Vintage Books, New York.

Brown, L. (2013) Tourism: a catalyst for existential authen- ticity. Annals of Tourism Research 40, 176–190.

Cohen, E. (1988) Authenticity and commoditization in tourism. Annals of Tourism Research 15, 371–386.

Cohen, E. (2012) Authenticity in tourism studies. Après la lutte. Critical Debates in Tourism. Tourism Recreation Research 32, 75–82.

Cole, S. (2007) Beyond authenticity and commodifica- tion. Annals of Tourism Research 34, 943–960.

Dovey, K. (1985) The quest for authenticity and the repli- cation of environmental meaning. In: Seamon, D. and Mugerauer, R. (eds) Dwelling, Place and Environment.

Springer Netherlands, Hingham, Massachusetts, pp.

33–49.

Eco, U. (1986) Travels in Hyperreality. Harcourt Brace Jovanovich, San Diego, California.

Getz, D. (1998) Event tourism and the authenticity dilemma. In: Theobald, W.F. (ed.) Global Tourism, 2nd edn.

Butterworth-Heinemann, Oxford, UK, pp. 409–427.

Hall, C.M. (2007) Response to Yeoman et al.: the fakery of ‘The authentic tourist’. Tourism Management 28, 1139–1140.

Heitmann, S. (2011) Authenticity in tourism. In: Robinson, P, Heitmann, S. and Dieke, P.U.C. (eds) Research Themes for Tourism. CAB International, Wallingford, UK, pp. 45–58.

Hollinshead, K. (2002) Playing with the past: heritage tourism under the tyrannies of postmodern discourse.

In: Ryan, C. (ed.) The Tourist Experience. Continuum, London, pp. 172–200.

Hughes, G. (1995) Authenticity in tourism. Annals of Tourism Research 22, 181–803.

Lau, R.W.K. (2010) Revisiting authenticity: a social realist approach. Annals of Tourism Research 37, 478–498.

Lipovetsky, G. and Charles, S. (2004) Os Tempos Hipermodernos. Barcarolla, São Paulo, Brazil.

MacCannell, D. (1973) Staged authenticity: arrange- ments of social space in tourist settings. American Journal of Sociology 79, 589–603.

MacCannell, D. (1976) The Tourist: a New Theory of the Leisure Class. University of California Press, California.

MacCannell, D. (1989) The Tourist. Schocken, New York.

Panosso Netto, A. and Gaeta, C. (2010) Turismo de Experiência. Senac, São Paulo, Brazil.

Pretes, M. (1995) Postmodern tourism: the Santa Claus industry. Annals of Tourism Research 22, 1–15.

Reisinger, Y. and Steiner, C.J. (2006) Reconceptualizing object authenticity. Annals of Tourism Research 33, 65–86.

Schudson, M.S. (1979) Review essay: on tourism and modern culture. American Journal of Sociology 84, 1249–1258.

Sharpley, R. (1994) Tourism, Tourists and Society. ELM Publications, Huntingdon, UK.

Shepherd, R.J. (2015) Why Heidegger did not travel:

existential angst, authenticity, and tourist experi- ences. Annals of Tourism Research 52, 60–71.

Shim, C.S. (2013) Postmodern tourism as signification:

definitional constructs of authenticity in the context of tourism and their influence on the urban tourist expe- rience. PhD thesis, University of Illinois at Urbana- Champaign, Illinois.

Stephen, C. (1990) The search for authenticity: review essay of Dean MacCannell, “the tourist”. Berkeley Journal of Sociology 35, 151–156.

Trilling, L. (1972) Sincerity and Authenticity. Harvard University Press, Cambridge, Massachusetts.

Urry, J. (1990) The Tourist Gaze. Sage, London.

Wang, N. (1999) Rethinking authenticity in tourism expe- rience. Annals of Tourism Research 26, 349–370.

Further reading

Caribbean Tourism Organization. Delivering Authenticity by Dr Lenox Honetchurch. Available at: http://www.

youtube.com/watch?v=SdyWnU8anwI (accessed 10 December 2014).