Authentic Experience in Tourism and Commodification

Abstract

Defining authenticity and authentic experience is a complex process. The actual meaning of authenticity is 'original'; however, there are different interpretations based on various perspectives such as objectivism, constructivism, and post-modernism. Under the current changing and globalizing environment, cultural boundaries are weakening and traditions lose their core form. Power and politics play important role in heritage preservation and authorization of the authentic experience. The search for authentic experience has become one of the main drives for people to travel. The increase in the demand for authentic products and experiences has resulted in the commodification of cultural elements. On the other hand, cultural tourism not only creates jobs for local people but also led them to embrace their culture. Globalization, capitalism, standardization, and social media are some examples of variables influencing authentic expertise within the context of tourism. Future research should consider such variables. The purpose of this paper is to provide an understanding of the role of authenticity in touristic experience by reviewing the relevant literature.

A critique of authenticity: how psychology can help

“…In tourism studies, four literature reviews have been conducted on authenticity (Kim and So, 2022; Olsen, 2002; Rickly and McCabe, 2017; Wang, 1999), as well as one on existential authenticity (Steiner and Reisinger, 2006). Rickly (2022) summarised the tourism literature on authenticity to identify 19 themes, and research topics include customer experience (Cohen, 1979; CoŞKun, 2021; Kim and So, 2022; Pearce and Moscardo, 1986), loyalty (Yin and Dai, 2021), heritage (Kolar and Zabkar, 2010; Park et al , 2019) and architecture (Yabanci, 2022), restaurants (Le et al , 2022) and food (Prayag et al , 2022), dark tourism , (Heuermann and Chhabra, 2014), film tourism (Rittichainuwat et al , 2018) and souvenirs (Li, 2023). By adopting the sociological perspective on authenticity, tourism researchers are implicitly accepting the assumptions upon which it is based.…”

The Acculturation Dynamics of the Sekaten Tradition in Modern Indonesia

“…This means that local traditions, such as those, have experienced a paradox, where they must preserve traditional culture but must also be able to survive amid the onslaught of modernisation. This phenomenon then continues in the commodification of local culture as tourism objects that bring economic benefits (Coºkun, 2021;Mokgachane et al, 2021;Soukup et al, 2021).…”