Authentic Experiences and Support for Sustainable Development: Applications at Two Cultural Tourism Destinations in Taiwan

Abstract

This study focused on the cultural tourism destinations of Lukang and Checheng in Taiwan, this study used existential authenticity (EA), object-based authenticity (OA), place attachment (PA), and support for sustainable development (SSD) as latent variables to examine a theoretical model based on the stimulus-organism-response model. We analyzed questionnaire data from tourists at both locations, thus finding that EA and OA positively/significantly affected PA, while PA positively/significantly affected SSD. However, OA did not affect SSD at either site, while EA directly affected SSD only at Checheng, and PA fully mediated latent variables at Lukang, but only partially so at Checheng.