Authenticity: the state-of-the-art in tourism geographies

Abstract

A leading concept in the field of tourism studies, authenticity has a unique relationship with tourism geographies. This state-of-the-art review focuses on this relationship. First, we identity key themes of authenticity research in tourism geographies: place and cultural heritage; place-based experiences; place and community identity. These themes capture ways that tourism geographies, bringing a spatial perspective to tourism place and people, engage with authenticity discourses, which emphasise the experienced and communicated meaningfulness of place and people. The evolution of this nexus of tourism geographies and authenticity towards richer, more nuanced, dynamic, and abstract understandings is shown. This advancement of the authenticity concept relating to tourism geographies is discussed as having enriched discourses around tourist experiences of and in place. Objective, subjective, and constructive dimensions of authenticity, have hereby been associated with the place-based experiences, activations, and social animations, of tourism geographies. Next, we investigate these themes to consider avenues that tourism geographies can advance the conceptualisation of authenticity, particularly through a focus on the production of space, co-creation practices, anti-tourism movements, and inclusivity. We propose these areas hold significant potential for future empirical and conceptual research considering the relations of place and people at the juncture of tourism geographies and authenticity.