Amidst the plethora of research regarding the meaning of authenticity, there remains uncertainty as to the work authenticity performs in tourism. Existential authenticity conceptually shifts focus from the objects of touristic practice to a sense of Being, suggesting that authenticity can be achieved, albeit only in the liminal moments of tourism experiences. Psychoanalysis would contend otherwiseauthenticity will always be beyond our reach. In a 2006 publication, Tim Oakes broaches the topic when discussing authenticity as "an abyss". We revisit that idea, developing it further through the lens of Lacanian psychoanalysis to argue that authenticity is a fantasy. It is not an empty concept, however, but like all fantasies authenticity does important work, particularly in tourism marketing and touristic motivation and experience. To better understand how authenticity as a fantasy fosters tourism desire, it is necessary to develop a conceptual understanding of alienation in relation to tourism motivation. This paper moves alienation from the periphery to the center of tourism theories, demonstrates the dialectical relationship of authenticity/alienation, and posits that as a fantasy authenticity is a malleable concept that has the ability to contextualize the "something" that is missing from our lives. As such, it will remain salient in tourism.

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Although underexplored in tourism studies, recent work suggests theories of alienation, as the dialectic of authenticity, have much to contribute to our understanding of tourism motivation. This paper uses three major theoretical tropes (Marxism, existentialism, and Lacanian psychoanalysis) to examine the role of alienation in the motivations of hiking and rock climbing tourists. In particular, these tourists describe only temporary and retrospective relief from anxiety, articulating authenticity as an elusive experience that lies at the horizon, in the next adventure, or in the past as a memory. Alienation is an ever-present component of the human condition, and as such, anxiety is omnipresent in our lives, contributing significantly to touristic desires for escape, rejuvenation, and existential experiences.

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The conceptualization of 'lifestyle mobilities' has yet to fully account for the diversity within and across mobile communities in terms of leisure, travel, and identity. Lifestyle rock climbers, for example, maintain minimalist, hypermobile lifestyles in the full-time, nonprofessional pursuit of the sport. In an effort to interrogate lifestyle rock climbing within the broader conceptualization of lifestyle mobilities, this paper applies Cresswell's (2010) mesotheoretical 'politics of mobility' framework. It begins by tracing constellations of mobility and historical contexts within the rock climbing community more broadly. This is followed by an examination of the facets of a politics of mobility: motive force, speed, rhythm, route, experience, friction, turbulence and remove, which together offer more nuanced understandings of the movement patterns and travel decisions of lifestyle climbing. However, to account for the community dynamics of lifestyle mobilities, there is a need to delve deeper and attend to the social relations that result from collective performances.

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