CT20 Mohammad khanloo Setare; 2021101219
CULTURAL TOURISM MIDTERM REACTION PAPER:
CULTURAL TOURISM AND AUTHENTICITY
Cultural Tourism Visions
Mass Tourism is a very new social event. It has been in existence only since the events following
World War II and following wars. In addition, as mentioned in study guide 1, mass tourism is
recognized by most as an industry even though it is actually a social phenomenon that encompasses
many industries associated with transportation, service, and information. Culture is the sum of a
people’s way of life. It is based on the realities of the environment. But culture is also the
accumulation of generations of practical knowledge and the surviving products of that knowledge.
Cultural tourism is a social event that occurs when local culture meets the influences of incoming
visitors. Cultural tourism is the deep, sudden, and short-term experience of ‘the other’. One of the
primary aims of cultural tourism is the pursuit of authenticity. However, here, this question arises
whether the cultural tourist sites are really authentic and whether authenticity really matters. (159
Words)
Cultural Tourism Impressions
In recent years, there has been wide-ranging debate on whether cultural tourism sites should be
authentic, and the significance or value of authenticity in cultural tourism has been discussed widely
(Alberts, H.C., & Hazen, H.D. (2010)). The purest notion of authenticity refers to whether an object
can be confirmed or proved as “original” and “real”. The concept of authenticity has evolved to
become a guiding principle in tourism studies ever since it was brought into the limelight by Dean
MacCannell. However, authenticity is an ambiguous term that continues to resist definition.
MacCannell (1976) suggested that tourists have become increasingly disenchanted by the
homogenization and contamination of tourist experiences and enthusiastically search for ‘authentic’
others who can afford real and unadulterated connections to the sites being visited (MacCannell, D.
(1976)). In tourism terms, therefore, authenticity can be defined as “…a desired experience or benefit
associated with certain types of tourism destinations…It is presumed to be the result of an encounter
with true, un-commercialized, everyday life in a culture different than that of the visitor” (Ivanovic, M.
(2008)). (179 Words)
Cultural Tourism Critical Analysis
The relation between cultural tourism and authenticity has been explained above. Another factor to
consider is that tourism could have negative influences on culture and the perceived “authenticity”.
Tourism can mutate culture and heritage in an irreversible way. This means that authenticity has
become a lost paradise and is being replaced by virtual experiences. Boorstin contends that tourists in
general do not even wish to experience reality but rather thrive on pseudo-events that are inauthentic,
contrived attractions that disregard the real world (Boorstin, D.J. (1961)). It is always possible that
what is taken to be entry into a back region is really entry into a front region that has been totally set
up in advance for tourist visitation. However, authenticity is not just about conceptual simplicity; it is
about people co-creating things that matter to them. Many claim that only experiences can be
authentic. From the point of philosophy, this makes sense, as we cannot prove that there is a real
world out there; we all have our sensory curs. Hence, authenticity, whether in cultural tourism or in
another topic, is individual, and judgements will be based on the person’s self-image. (195 Words)
REFERENCES
Alberts, H.C., & Hazen, H.D. (2010). Tourist authenticity and search for the “original”. Annals of
Tourism Research, 37(3), 764-779
Boorstin, D.J. (1961). The image: A guide to pseudo-events in America. Vintage.
Ivanovic, M. (2008). Authenticity in tourism: Authenticity and tourist destination. Ekonomski Horizonti,
10(3), 319-331
MacCannell, D. (1976). The tourist: A new theory of the leisure class. University of California Press.
1.1. The Perception of Cultural Authenticity 1.2. Influence of Cultural Identity on Tourists’
Authenticity Perceptions
1.3. The Continuum of Staged Authenticity 1.4. The Quest for Authentic Africa
Figure 1: Theories of Cultural Tourism and Authenticity
Sources:
1.1. https://www.mdpi.com/2071-1050/15/22/15794
1.2. https://www.mdpi.com/2071-1050/12/16/6344
1.3. https://www.researchgate.net/figure/places-of-destination-and-tourists-perceived-Authenticity-of-
the-toured-place_fig1_351123914
1.4. https://www.travelweekly.com/Middle-East-Africa-Travel/The-quest-for-authentic-Africa
