Deconstructing the internal structure of perceived authenticity for heritage tourism

Abstract

Although modern society is more inclined to view authenticity from a postmodernist perspective, few quantitative studies on heritage tourism explored existential authenticity in detail. This study deconstructs authenticity into three components – object-related, intra-personal, and inter-personal – and then constructs a complete model by exploring each component’s internal structures, asking to what extent travel motivation is an antecedent and loyalty, a consequence. Data were obtained from 1,088 valid survey questionnaires distributed in Pingxi, Taiwan. Study findings confirmed the reliability and validity of the items used to measure the construct of authenticity. Regarding the internal structure of authenticity, intra-personal authenticity plays a mediating role between object-related authenticity and inter-personal authenticity, and this inter-personal authenticity may be the final value that tourists perceive. Compared with recent related studies, this model more comprehensively explains the degree of variation in loyalty, reflecting its importance for heritage tourism management and marketing. If a destination remains authentic, tourists are willing make a return visit. Authenticity may enable tourism managers to strike a balance between preservation and development when achieving the long-term goal of sustainable development.

Keywords:

• Object-related authenticity
• intra-personal authenticity
• inter-personal authenticity
• motivation
• loyalty
• heritage tourism

Disclosure statement

No potential conflict of interest was reported by the authors.

Notes on contributors

Yu Chiang Lin is an associate professor in Tourism and Hospitality Management at Kainan University. He strives to maintain a balance between resource preservation and development of tourism sites, focusing on issues such as sustainable tourism development, authenticity and willingness to pay.

Yun Chiao Liu is a teacher at Da-Chu Elementary School. She received the master degree from the School of Tourism and Hospitality Management at Kainan University. Her research interests are in heritage and tourism.

Additional information

Funding

The authors would like to thank the Ministry of Science and Technology of Taiwan, ROC for the financial support (MOST 105 - 2410 - H - 424 - 009 - SSS).