Chinese heritage tourists to heritage sites: what are the effects of heritage motivation and perceived authenticity on satisfaction?

Much of the literature on authenticity is Western-centric, while little work addresses the concept in the Asian environment. The literature relating to authenticity from Asian tourists’ point of view is even underdeveloped. This study therefore aims to fill the knowledge gap by investigating Chinese tourists’ perspective of authenticity. It also examines tourists’ perceived authenticity as a multi-dimensional construct in a consumer-based model, the relationship with heritage motivation and tourist satisfaction. Findings indicate that Chinese tourists’ perceptions of authenticity are closely related to objective and constructive authenticity. The study demonstrates that heritage motivation has a significant positive influence on perceived authenticity and that perceived authenticity has a strong ability to predict tourist satisfaction.     

Investigating the Structural Relationships among Authenticity,Loyalty, Involvement,and Attitude toward World Cultural Heritage Sites: An Empirical Study of Nanjing Xiaoling Tomb,China

This study examined the relationships among authenticity, loyalty, involvement, and attitude toward world cultural heritage sites (WCHS), as well as the relevance between two basic authenticity concepts in cultural heritage tourism, that is, constructive authenticity and existential authenticity. A structural model was proposed, in which authenticity is regarded as a key mediating construct between attitude and loyalty. The data were collected by a self-administrated questionnaire survey at one of the WCHS in China – Nanjing Xiaoling Tomb Scenic Area. The structural equation modeling method was employed to test the research model and the hypotheses with the sample data. The results indicate that involvement, attitude, and existential authenticity have significant effects on tourists' loyalty to the world cultural heritage visitation and that constructive authenticity and existential authenticity are significantly related. The theoretical and management implications of authenticity are also discussed in this paper.     

Tourists' intention to visit heritage hotels at George Town World Heritage Site

George Town, Penang, has always been one of the most popular destinations among Malaysian and international tourists. In 2008, George Town was accorded a listing as a UNESCO World Heritage Site (WHS). With the listing, increasing tourist arrivals and intentions to visit heritage hotels have been very promising in recent years, prompting the emergence of the adaptive reuse of heritage buildings into heritage hotels. In line with this development, this study examines the effects of perceived price, experience quality, prior knowledge, perceived authenticity, and social influence on tourists’ intention to visit heritage hotels at the George Town WHS, Penang, with perceived value as a mediator. The findings indicate that perceived price, experience quality, prior knowledge, perceived authenticity, social influence and perceived value exert positive and significant effects on tourists’ intention to visit heritage hotels. The study also determines the mediating effect of perceived value on the relationships between independent variables and the intention to visit heritage hotels. This study provides an in-depth understanding of the attributes that affect tourists’ intention to visit heritage hotels at the George Town WHS and helps the owners and operators of heritage hotels to formulate future strategies in designing and promoting their services.     

Deconstructing the internal structure of perceived authenticity for heritage tourism

Abstract

Although modern society is more inclined to view authenticity from a postmodernist perspective, few quantitative studies on heritage tourism explored existential authenticity in detail. This study deconstructs authenticity into three components – object-related, intra-personal, and inter-personal – and then constructs a complete model by exploring each component’s internal structures, asking to what extent travel motivation is an antecedent and loyalty, a consequence. Data were obtained from 1,088 valid survey questionnaires distributed in Pingxi, Taiwan. Study findings confirmed the reliability and validity of the items used to measure the construct of authenticity. Regarding the internal structure of authenticity, intra-personal authenticity plays a mediating role between object-related authenticity and inter-personal authenticity, and this inter-personal authenticity may be the final value that tourists perceive. Compared with recent related studies, this model more comprehensively explains the degree of variation in loyalty, reflecting its importance for heritage tourism management and marketing. If a destination remains authentic, tourists are willing make a return visit. Authenticity may enable tourism managers to strike a balance between preservation and development when achieving the long-term goal of sustainable development.     

Elucidating the relationships among destination images,recreation experience,and authenticity of the Shengxing Heritage Recreation Area in Taiwan

A destination's image and on-site recreation experience can be regarded as precedents of the authenticity perceived by heritage tourists. Historic images attract tourists to experience the authenticity of a heritage destination. This study examines the linear relationships among destination images, recreation experience, and the perceived authenticity experienced by tourists at the Shengxing Heritage Recreation Area in central Taiwan. In total, 536 usable questionnaires were collected. Analytical results indicate that the cognitive and affective images of a destination directly and significantly affect the recreation experience of tourists at a heritage recreation area. Additionally, recreation experience directly and significantly affects perceived authenticity. Moreover, recreation experience has a significant mediating effect on the relationship between cognitive image and perceived authenticity. We conclude that when tourists visit a heritage-based tourism destination, such as the destination under consideration, these tourists gain tourism image and recreation experiences, which strengthens their perceived authenticity of heritage tourism; as a result, these tourists are more likely to contribute to the development of heritage tourism. Applying this theoretical framework to research on heritage tourism further extends our understanding of the behavioural model of heritage tourists. Finally, this study provides a valuable reference for managers striving to develop heritage tourism.     

回望“真实性”(authenticity)(上)——一个旅游研究的热点

麦坎内尔(MacCannell)掀起的"真实性"研究热已逾30年,其间,研究视角逐渐从"客观"转向"主观"。这既反映出真实性内涵的延展与变迁,亦凸显旅游主体—游客体验的重要性。然而,就研究者日渐褊狭的视域来看,旅游客体真实性对旅游体验真实性的影响从松散到几近断裂,旅游主体甚至以"悦纳万物"的信仰姿态视一切"存在"为真,从而收获真实的体验。客观真实与主观真实,究竟是谁决定或影响了谁?对此问题的探寻导致学界对旅游客体之"虚假"的重新界定和对旅游体验之"真实"的再度好奇,并因此形成旅游真实性研究的纷争局面。有鉴于此,对国内外真实性研究做一番缘起、视角、界定等方面的梳理和反思,或将对国内相关研究与应用有所裨益。     

Tourists' Perceptions of Aboriginal Heritage Souvenirs

Heritage souvenirs are an indispensable part of indigenous tourism and the authenticity of indigenous heritage is a vital aspect of such tourism. This study adopts a mixed methods approach to explore the perceived authenticity of glass bead souvenirs of the Paiwan Tribe in Pintung County, Taiwan. The study explores differences in the evaluations of authenticity among stakeholders and the factors that influence perceptions of authenticity. An understanding of tourists' perceptions of indigenous heritage offers valuable information for the creation of indigenous souvenirs and for reviving the promotion of indigenous culture.     

A consumer-based model of authenticity: An oxymoron or the foundation of cultural heritage marketing?

This study examines the relevance and conceptualizations of the authenticity concept in cultural tourism from the managerial standpoint. We propose a consumer-based model in which authenticity is a key mediating construct between cultural motivation and loyalty. The model is empirically examined by means of a survey conducted on 25 Romanesque heritage sites in four European countries. A confirmatory factor analysis and structural equation modeling were performed using LISREL 8.72. The results indicate that cultural motivation is an important antecedent of both object-based and existential authenticity, which in turn influence tourist loyalty. Theoretical, managerial and marketing implications of authenticity are discussed, showing that the consumer-based perspective can transcend some 'irreconcilable tensions' related to this concept.     

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.     

Tourist loyalty to a local cultural event: The case of Turkmen handicrafts festival

The purpose of this research was to examine a comprehensive model of attendee loyalty at a local festival. More specifically, the research tested a model linking festival authenticity to festival quality, value, satisfaction, trust and loyalty to a given festival. Using convenience sampling method, empirical data was collected at the Turkmen handicrafts festival in Gonbad-e-Kavoos, the most important city in the Turkmen Sahra region, Iran. A sample of 301 domestic tourists who attended the festival was surveyed. Applying structural equation modeling, the findings showed that perceived authenticity influenced perceived quality, value and satisfaction. Perceived quality was found to have the direct effect on perceived value, satisfaction and trust. Perceived value affected satisfaction, trust and loyalty. Satisfaction had the direct effect on loyalty and so did trust.     

Diaspora,authenticity and the imagined past

Ancestral tourism in Scotland, a sector of the heritage tourism market sensitive to consumer personalisation, has particular propensities towards process-driven co-created experiences. These experiences occur within existing categories of object-based and existential notions of authenticity alongside an emergent category of the ‘authentically imagined past’. The latter of these modes reveals a complex interplay between professionally endorsed validation of the empirical veracity of objects, documents and places and deeply held, authentically imagined, narratives of ‘home’. These narratives, built up in the Diaspora over centuries, drive new processes towards authenticity in tourism. We conducted 31 interviews across 27 sites throughout Scotland with curators, archivists, and volunteers to explore these notions of authenticity within the ancestral tourism context.     

Restaurant Authenticity: Factors That Influence Perception,Satisfaction and Return Intentions at Regional American-Style Restaurants

This study assessed perceptions of authenticity and its relationship with satisfaction and return intentions for regional American-style restaurants using randomly selected customers at a Southern-style country-cooking restaurant. Results showed that personal and restaurant attributes influenced perceived restaurant authenticity, with a restaurant’s food and beverage and local community marketing having the strongest influences. Results also showed that perceived authenticity influences restaurant satisfaction and return intentions. Findings suggest restaurants should ensure their food and beverage meets customers’ authenticity standards and that they should promote their community connections in order to enhance diner loyalty and return patronage. Implications are discussed in detail.     

遗产原真性·旅游者价值观偏好·遗产旅游原真性

本文指出旅游科学的"原真性"概念与遗产科学的渊源;提出应将"authenticity"译为"原真性"的理由;概述了遗产科学对"原真性"概念的认识发展;从旅游价值观偏好层面对当代旅游科学中出现的"客观主义原真性"、"建构主义原真性"、"存在主义原真性"、"后现代主义原真性"诸提法进行了评论;最后,较为概括地辨析了原真性概念在文化和遗产旅游中的具体处置.     

Heritage authenticities – a case study of authenticity perceptions at a Danish heritage site

Authenticity in reconstructions of the past is essential to heritage management, and new technologies have made this a highly pertinent dilemma. Demands for new interpretation offers and experiences raise questions of the extent to which such demands can or should be met. New technologies have already made their way into the heritage industry as a means of innovation for interpretation offers, among these is augmented reality. New technologies have made a limited break-through arguably rooted in conservatism among heritage managers. This raises a question of managers' understandings and perceptions of authenticity and effects on heritage and new technologies. Based on an exploratory case, Lindholm Høje Viking burial and museum in Denmark, this paper proposes that different conceptions of authenticity can co-exist within the tourist setting, whereby new technologies can be implemented to strengthen heritage sites as tourism attractions while still paying attention to authenticity and ongoing authentication processes. Abstract, conceptual discussions of authenticity often stress the extremes, but it is here argued that a combination can exist in practice. The paper also suggests that understanding levels and patterns of authenticity among various groups of actors is central to discussions of authenticity and its role in tourism settings.     

An existential conceptualization of the vacation cycle

Utilizing the notions of existential authenticity and normal anxiety, we propose the five-phase model of vacation cycle and elucidate mechanisms behind vacation and fade-out effects. Departing from a purely philosophical view on existential authenticity, we focus on its understanding via the existential psychology lenses, arguing that existential authenticity is a relative, dynamic, and four-dimensional concept. Supported by the current empirical evidences and theoretical advancements in existential psychology, this study posits that, accompanied by anxiety fluctuations, authenticity varies during a vacation across four dimensions of human existence: Umwelt, Mitwelt, Eigenwelt, and Uberwelt. We suggest that these changes are associated with vacation (when evoked by liminality and awe) and fade-out effects (when prompted by the lack of existential courage and anxiety tranquilization).     

How does authenticity enhance flow experience through perceived value and involvement: the moderating roles of innovation and cultural identity

This study provided a new multiple mediation-moderation model to explore how authenticity may enhance the flow experience through the function of perceived value and involvement. Data from 605 tourists were collected, and the results indicate that cognition (i.e. perceived value) and behavior (i.e. involvement) of tourists is an important mechanism linking the relationship between authenticity and flow experience. Moreover, this study also finds that innovation and culture are two critical moderators, which offers evidence that the flow experience will be enhanced when the tourists have a higher level of innovation and cultural identity.     

Authenticity and place attachment of major visitor attractions

This paper aims to explore the relationships between place attachment and perceived authenticity of major visitor attractions. The empirical study was conducted with a sample of international tourists to major visitor attractions in two capital cities, Helsinki, Finland and Jerusalem, Israel. The results indicate a positive correlation between place attachment and authenticity. Major visitor attractions located in places with considerable heritage experience value are considered more authentic, and that authenticity of visitor attractions is influenced by place attachment moderated by iconicity and heritage value of the destination region. These findings provide insight to the ways tourists perceive authenticity of visitor attractions and highlight the importance of the heritage value of tourism destinations for strategic planning and marketing purposes.     

从建构主义真实性看文学资源的旅游开发——以界首镇“汪曾祺水乡风俗园”项目策划为例

真实性是现代旅游中的重要概念.本文对比了学术界有关真实性的4种理论,认为兼顾旅游客体和旅游体验真实性的建构主义真实性理论符合文学资源亦真亦幻的特点,适宜作为文学资源旅游开发的基础,并以高邮界首镇汪曾祺水乡风俗因项目策划为例,说明基于建构主义真实性理论的文学资源旅游开发流程.     

文化实践中非物质文化遗产的真实性:径山茶宴的再发明

文章通过对一名茶僧参与策划径山茶宴全过程的民族志研究,采用参与观察和深入访谈的研究方法,讨论和反思旅游文化背景下非物质文化遗产的再发明问题。文章从旅游文化和"真实性"的概念出发,讨论旅游研究领域对"光环"研究的缺失,提出关注文化实践中对光环的利用存在的问题,进一步探讨径山茶宴再发明过程中"谁需要真实性以及为什么"以及"如何使用真实性"两个核心问题,以期补充现有真实性讨论的局限性。笔者认为,遗产旅游文化是文化市场化的结果,具备其真实性,而遗产的光环促进着地方文化品牌的推广,径山茶宴在旅游发展背景下的遗产化过程呼吁我们反思非物质文化遗产认证存在的批量化、标准化以及文化多元性等问题。     

‘The smell of death and the smell of life’: authenticity,anxiety and perceptions of death at Varanasi’s cremation grounds

ABSTRACT

This paper contributes to an understanding of existential authenticity and existential anxiety in tourism studies through an investigation of tourists’ perceptions of death, the Self, and ‘others’ at the Hindu cremation grounds in Varanasi, India. Encounters with death at dark tourism sites serve as reminders of one’s own mortality affecting one’s attitude towards death, perception of self, and even challenging one’s personal values. Existentialists assert that anxiety is a condition of existential authenticity, and therefore moments of the existentially authentic experience are not always pleasurable. This paper argues that confrontation with death, as exemplified by the Aghori rituals and the cremation grounds in Varanasi, offers tourists an opportunity to examine the inevitability that life will end and to engage with this existential predicament and anxiety in an embodied sense, thereby pushing some of them towards life changes in the pursuit of existential authenticity.