Authenticity in cultural heritage tourism

Abstract eng:
This study focuses on the role of authenticity in cultural heritage tourism. In this research, we address authenticity under three dimensions – the objective (real), the constructive (sociopolitical) and the existential (phenomenological) – and via two aspects that contextualize authenticity: space and time. Specifically, this research verifies how tourists perceive authenticity when they travel, and investigates what is attractive to tourists. The particular purpose is to find out how authenticity in cultural heritage tourism affects tourist satisfaction and loyalty. At each loyalty stage, different factors (such as objective authenticity, constructive authenticity, existential authenticity and overall satisfaction) influencing loyalty (such as cognitive loyalty, affective loyalty and conative loyalty) can be detected. There is empirical evidence that tourist satisfaction after experiencing constructive and existential authenticity is a strong indicator of their intentions to revisit and recommend the destination to other people. Satisfied tourists with the perception of existential authenticity are more likely to return to the same destination, and are more willing to share their positive traveling experience with their friends and relatives. Positive word-of-mouth recommendations are especially critical in tourism marketing because they are considered to be the most reliable, and thus are one of the most sought-after information sources for potential tourists. Loyalty is a key outcome of consumer decision-making in the services sector, and thus the importance of loyalty is evident. In particular, constructive authenticity not only plays a key role in tourist satisfaction and loyalty but also has the power to influence existential authenticity in cultural heritage tourism.

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