Authenticity and the authentication of heritage: dialogical perceptiveness

ABSTRACT

The dialogue on authenticity continues to evolve across different temporalities and disciplines. This editorial for the special issue summarizes contemporary progress made by scholars of heritage tourism and shares innovative corridors for deep deliberations. A broad spectrum of provocative ideas are touched upon, ranging from host–guest authentication and intangible heritage to knowledge transfer processes, authenticating heritage in fairytale settings, authenticity and anxiety in the smell of death and life, understanding the boundaries of authenticity, nostalgia, sustainability, marketing, destination competitiveness, and examining affective connotations of authenticity. Discursive insights are offered on how different authenticities are legitimized and critically deconstructed and re-constructed again in the authentication process, to underline the existence of power and authority interventions. Inspiring/innovative pathways, for future research, are also recommended.     

Feminism and the Physical Cultural Studies Assemblage: Revisiting Debates and Imagining New Directions

Abstract

The relationship between feminism and PCS is complex and an exemplar of the politics of knowledge production. We begin this paper by detailing the evolving relationship between feminism and PCS, and identify two key ways that feminist sport scholars have responded to PCS. Whereas one group has rejected PCS outright, another is reappropriating PCS for their own purposes. Aligning with the latter, in the remainder of the paper we offer one of many possible imaginings of a feminist interpretation of the PCS assemblage. More specifically, we briefly outline how a feminist engagement with some of the key tenets of PCS facilitated new understandings of New Zealand women’s embodied experiences of netball, includingMāori women.In so doing, we reveal what a FPCS approach might look like in practice and highlight ways that feminist scholars have, and can continue to, contribute to the PCS agenda through embodied, theoretical, reflexive, political, contextual and culturally-specific research.     

Ecotourism in Bhutan: Extending its Benefits to Rural Communities

This paper analyzes the present state of tourism in Bhutan and considers the prospects for the development of ecotourism. Empirical surveys of tour operators and foreign tourists indicate that visitors interested in the natural beauty of the Himalayan kingdom stay longer than those who come to experience its culture. By attracting younger tourists, ecotourism could contribute to the goals of Gross National Happiness. The majority of tourists and tour operators are in favor of ecotourism activities that might benefit local rural communities. The prerequisite for a substantial promotion of ecotourism would be changes in the Bhutanese tourism policy to encourage the diversification of tourism products.     

Function space revenue management: A product bundling approach to hotel function space utilization

This article extends revenue management research into non-traditional hotel operating departments pertaining to convention hotel function space. This research evaluates utilization patterns of multiple convention hotel function spaces and identifies concurrent high-, medium- and low-utilization groupings of multiple convention spaces using k-means clustering. These high- and low-utilization function space pairings allow us to identify convention spaces to target for additional revenue management oversight. A Bayesian analysis of potential lift in revenue per available foot (RPAF) attributable to product bundling concludes the research linking hot and cold function spaces compatible with value based price packaging opportunities.     

Host–guest authentication of intangible cultural heritage: a literature review and conceptual model

ABSTRACT

Cultural tourism and intangible cultural heritage (ICH) play a key role in tourism worldwide, and are especially important for communities in developing countries, due to the demand for authentic experiences. This article provides a review of existing literature on the authenticity and authentication of ICH. The review reveals scholarly inquiry has evolved from external-expert ‘cool’ authentication to direct host–guest on-site or ‘hot’ authentication whereby tourists participate in the process of determining authenticity. Further, existing models for authentication of ICH have focused only on either a guest’s or host’s perspectives with little attention to the inevitable mutual interaction of the host and guest in the authentication of ICH. Mutual authentication can enhance the tourist experience and improve community empowerment. This paper develops a conceptual model of the mutual (host–guest) authentication of ICH, incorporating both hosts’ and tourists’ perspectives. The model has application in ICH based tourism and emphasizes power relationships between the host and guest, and community empowerment across political, social, psychological and economic domains. Future research is needed to test and validate this conceptual model.     

Understanding authentication processes and the role of conventions: a consideration of Greek ethnic restaurants

Drawing on convention and social identity theories, this paper explores how actors utilize conventions and identities to claim legitimacy and defend their judgements in processes of hot authentication. It does this through a qualitative study of Greek ethnic restaurants, considering both in-group (Greek restaurant owners and diaspora diners) and out-group (tourist and non-Greek) perspectives. We identify three orders of worth (market, domestic and inspirational) which embody contrasting notions of authenticity (pragmatic iconicity, ancestral indexicality and innovative iconicity, respectively). Each order of worth incorporates notions of quality as well as legitimate actors in authentication processes. While hot authentication is a diffuse process, some actors nonetheless possess privileged positions in particular orders of worth.     

Selling Anthropocene space: situated adventures in sustainable tourism

Abstract

The Anthropocene is a proposed technical term for a new geological timeframe, but it is also a conceptual tool with the potential to redefine the stakes of contemporary environmental politics. One facet that is often overlooked is that the Anthropocene is a concept with commercial potential, even if the term itself has not been widely adopted. This article presents an investigation of the commercial potential of the Anthropocene idea through the lens of self-described sustainable tourism ventures in The Bahamas. These examples demonstrate some of the ways in which Anthropocene imaginaries participate in the recreation, redesign, and rebranding of specific spaces as emergent “tourism products”, specifically the small island farm and the anthropogenic coral reef. The goal is twofold: (1) to explore the symbolic and material creativity of the Anthropocene idea as its themes are used to extend capitalist innovation, and (2) to examine the Anthropocene idea as a strategy that builds upon existing histories of inequality to enable transnational accumulation in particular locales. As a situated adventure, this article articulates a reflexive mode of political ecological research for the Anthropocene that is equipped to critically articulate emergent practices at the intersection of postcolonial tourism, environmental conservation, and sustainable development.     

Gay neo-tribes: Exploration of travel behaviour and space

This research seeks to understand space as a point of coherence around which neo-tribes form. In doing so, it draws upon neo-tribalism as a way to conceptualise belonging, connectedness, and affinity. Using ethnographic methods including semi-structured interviews and participant observation, this research investigates whether gay travellers experience a sense of connectedness to other gay travellers, certain spaces, and specific activities in relation to their sexual identities. Space becomes a connective thread and a point of coherence around which neo-tribes form. Findings reveal that space acts as a performance site, where the collective neo-tribal identity can be manifested.     

Understanding tourist space at a historic site through space syntax analysis: The case of Gulangyu,China

Although tourist development appears to be an effective approach for the further development of historic towns, researchers have often contended that a balance is difficult to maintain between protection and development. This article applies space syntax analysis to provide an understanding of tourist space at historic sites on Gulangyu Island. The relationship between street network integration and the urban fabric as well as tourist preferences collated from data mining are explored and verified. Then, results of the space syntax analysis along with the proposed historic site plan are compared to provide suggestions in plan evaluation. This research provides a visualized and quantitative approach to the field of tourist management via the application of Geographic Information System (GIS) to urban morphological features, tourist preferences and results gathered by way of planning practice. The effectiveness and limitations of this proposed new approach are also debated and substantiated.     

Extending the scope of hotel client reactions to employee injustice: Hotel employer reviews on the Internet

Third-party literature is concerned about the way others perceive what happens in organizations. When dealing with the perceived justice of the employer-employee relationship, it has mainly adopted an on-site approach. The scarce research focusing on the consequences of perceived justice for client variables in hotels has shown that it can impact client loyalty. In this study, we adopt an on-line view, and we analyze how the comments posted by hotel employees on the Internet about their work conditions influence guest perceptions. This topic is relevant because it is well known that clients’ perceptions influence client satisfaction, WOM and revisit intentions. Through an experiment based on real hotel employer reviews, results confirm that these comments have an impact on the organizational image dimension of service quality, hotel clients’ satisfaction, WOM, and revisit intentions. Thus, as occurs with client eWOM, hotel managers should be aware of these comments and manage them appropriately.     

From lost space to third place: The visitor's perspective

Although studies on place attachment in tourism have expanded greatly during the past decade, most have focused on nature-based settings, thereby neglecting the social dimension of place. The triadic relationship of activity involvement, place attachment, and visitor loyalty has received limited attention. In response, we investigated visitors' attachment to activities and settings within cultural creative districts (CCDs) in a manufacturing hub of China, with the aim to advance the theory of place attachment and elucidate geographic and psychological factors that can affect visitor experience. Results of an onsite questionnaire (n = 252) indicated that: 1) activity involvement positively affected place attachment; 2) attraction and social bonding were strong predictors of visitor loyalty. We identified a more effective way to implement CCDs as part of urban-regeneration strategies—namely, to become visitors' favourite third places, CCDs need to offer high-quality social encounters with a suitable mix of physical, cultural, and entertainment amenities.     

Coastal blue space and wellbeing research: looking beyond western tides

ABSTRACT

In this paper we focus on coastal blue spaces and the ways in which they have been advocated as beneficial for health and wellbeing in the context of leisure practices. We offer a reassessment of some of the claims made in this growing body of literature, highlighting the diverse cultural practices at the coast across different geographical contexts, particularly for those communities that have experienced exclusion due to ethnicity, culture, and income. We then discuss conceptions of coastal blue space and wellbeing within the context of Aotearoa New Zealand, a bi-cultural nation in which indigenous knowledges connected to both wellbeing and leisure in the outdoor world are impacting dominant (white, colonial) discourses, policies and practices. We illustrate that a Māori world view embraces different practices and assumptions about what water means and how relationships with water are made including through leisure practices. Aotearoa New Zealand provides a revealing cultural context for re-assessing and indeed challenging Eurocentric assumptions about blue spaces as sites of wellbeing. More widely we suggest that it is timely to anchor blue space and wellbeing research to different ‘worlds’; that looking in to reach out and expanding research agendas is a useful and important enterprise.     

Destination performance: Introducing the utility function in the mean-variance space

Economic characteristics of home countries can cause considerable variations in the tourism demand. For example, the average level of expenditure per tourist varies from one origin to another and these variations may alter overtime. Thus different tourist nationalities are associated with different level of expenditures and risks. Therefore strategies aimed at minimizing the variations may become an important issue for the policy makers. In this paper, we aim to use the productivity measurement theory in a mean-variance space to a French region (Nord Pas-de-Calais) by introducing the utility function in a mean-variance framework. With this method, we can calculate the optimal portfolio share for each origin and give some useful political advices to the policy decision makers to improve the performance of the tourist sector.     

A history of recreation resource planning: The origins of space standards

Steely Dan, a rock band which has consistently produced high calibre songs but eschewed celebrity, embodies a particular idiosyncratic rock genre that contains originality, craftsmanship and a critical attitude to art and life. In many ways the core musicians can be regarded as intellectuals whose songs not only offer particular individualised and self‐driven ‘outsider’ identities for the fan but also claim cultural authority. This article explores the ambiguous socio‐cultural and musical space occupied by the band in relation to rock music and the 1970s context more generally. It examines techniques of production, lyrical content, fan attachment and broader signification with regard to individual style and cultural legitimisation. It also critically assesses theoretical arguments that consider the positioning of the music within modernist and postmodernist discourses.     

Commercial hospitality in destination experiences: McDonald's and tourists' consumption of space

This paper examines the multiple roles that globalised, branded spaces of hospitality can play in tourists' experiences in destinations. It is argued that previous studies have not considered adequately how such commercial hospitality services and spaces interact with and influence tourists' experiences of places. Drawing on a netnographic analysis of online discussions of McDonald's, this study explores how tourists perceive these hospitality venues, and how they use them to engage with foreign destinations and negotiate the ‘work of tourism’. The data show how tourists (re)construct their identities through reflections on consuming McDonald's. The data also demonstrate that tourists critically evaluate discourses of authenticity and the (in)authenticity of consuming McDonald's. The paper concludes by discussing the implications for the marketing and management of McDonald's and similar branded commercial hospitality venues, the marketing and management of destinations, and it outlines avenues for further research.     

The role of co-creation experience in forming tourists' revisit intention to home-based accommodation: Extending the theory of planned behavior

This study aims to provide a theoretical framework explaining how tourists' revisit intentions to home-based accommodations are formed. It does so by inserting constructs related to co-creation experience (experiencescape, perceived value, and memorability) into the theory of planned behavior (TPB) and by considering the moderating effect of co-creation behavior. The study results (n = 413) from structural equation modeling (SEM) indicated that the extended TPB has better predictive power than the original TPB. The findings also showed that all proposed paths were significant, identified the role of co-creation experience in generating intention, and verified the mediating role of study variables. Furthermore, the invariance test indicated that tourists' co-creation behavior played a moderating role between experiencescape and customers' internal factors (perceived value, memorability, and attitude). Theoretical and practical implications are discussed.     

The first space hotel employees: Human resources challenges in a post-terrestrial paradigm

ABSTRACT

This article discusses some of the issues regarding the first employees to work in a space hotel. As space hotels initially will be vastly different to existing hotels on Earth, it is important to question what human resource challenges this will raise for hospitality workers and providers. To assist reflection on this issue, the notions of space tourism and space tourist are explored, and a definition of a space hotel is included to create product and service boundaries. Plausible futures methodology is used to create five main human resource considerations and concludes by suggesting this sector is largely unexplored.     

Extending and adapting the concept of quality management for museums and cultural heritage attractions: A comparative study of southern European cultural heritage managers' perceptions

Quality in cultural heritage attractions is mainly approached from the visitors' satisfaction perspective, and the literature does not contain a clear definition of quality in the management of cultural heritage sites open to the public. The present study aims to reframe this trend. By way of theoretical contribution, we propose a definition of quality in cultural heritage attractions management based on dimensions such as the capacity of preserving the cultural assets, the ability to communicate effectively their significance, the quality of commodification for visitor use, and the ability to boost intercultural competence and promote intercultural dialogue. Based on the above, an empirical, qualitative study was conducted on the cultural heritage managers' current perceptions of quality. The results suggest that a profound asymmetry exists among practitioners' opinions and practices, and four types of cultural heritage managers were defined with regard to their perception of quality: Reactionary, Reticent, Pragmatic, Enthusiastic.     

Knowing your place and commanding space: de/constructions of gendered embodiment in mixed-sex karate

ABSTRACT

Feminists have long acknowledged that gendered divisions in access to spaces of leisure, and how women and men physically take up that space, reproduce gender inequality. This article will explore how karate practitioners participate in the space of mixed-sex karate practice and how such uses of space de/construct gendered embodiments and a gender hierarchy. Data presented are drawn from nine months of ethnographic emersion within three karate clubs and 15 photo-elicitation interviews with karate participants from the three clubs. The findings of this paper suggest that whilst women often occupied spaces of expertise within the karate hall, gendered distinctions in uses of space emerged in the more subtle ways in which women and men used their voice, responded to the tacit and smelt dilemmas of sweat, and moved their bodies across physical space. This research highlights both the potential of physical leisure practice to ‘undo’ conventional gendered embodiments that particularly restrict women’s intentionality in the world, and the power of spatially attuned research to illuminate the minute ways in which unequal gender relations are naturalised, legitimised and done.