Authenticity in indigenous tourism

Pei-Hsin Hsu,Chad Nilep

doi:10.5204/ijcis.v8i2.124

Pei-Hsin Hsu, Chad Nilep

Open Access

https://doi.org/10.5204/ijcis.v8i2.124

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Abstract

Although authenticity is frequently debated in the study of the tourism industry, the host’s perspective has rarely been discussed. This study of Smangus village, an indigenous tourism site in Taiwan, explores host authenticity, a view of community as distinct and true to a shared sense of self. An ethnographic approach was used for periodic data collection from 2006 to 2015, focusing on the village’s tourism initiation and communal tourism activities. The results show that Atayal Gaga, a traditional social norm that stresses communal action toward shared goals, underpins Smangus’ tourism industry. Host authenticity is shown in the decision to transform village industry from agriculture to tourism and in tourism programs that stress local people’s role as educators. The contribution of this research is to provide an additional perspective for the theoretical discourse of authenticity in tourism studies and to give an empirical example for indigenous communities in future tourism development and management.

Highlights

Authenticity is frequently debated in the study of the tourism industry, the host’s perspective has rarely been discussed
The village’s tourism industry started in 1995 after the first vehicle-access road opened in the area
Village leaders’ efforts to respond to social and economic changes arriving with a new road in the 1990s seemed to challenge prior studies concerning asymmetric host-guest relationships and the disempowering effects of indigenous tourism on host communities

Summary

Introduction

Authenticity is frequently debated in the study of the tourism industry, the host’s perspective has rarely been discussed. This study of Smangus village, an indigenous tourism site in Taiwan, explores host authenticity, a view of community as distinct and true to a shared sense of self. This paper presents the voices of people living in the village and working in tourism regarding the relationship between traditional narratives, local religious beliefs and newer practices brought about by the tourist industry. One of the earliest discussions of authentic and inauthentic culture is Daniel Boorstin’s (1961) discussion of pseudo-events; events or activities that are produced primarily to be seen, photographed and reproduced. Analyses of this tradition define authenticity from a scholastic viewpoint outside of the event or its production. Scholarship traditionally generally defines authenticity in terms of tourists’ perceptions, including criticism of the effects of ‘modern’ tourists’ gaze on often racialized, stereotyped ‘cultures’

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