Authenticity & Tourism: Materialities, Perceptions, Experiences (Tourism Social Science Series)

Debates around the concept of authenticity date to the earliest theories of tourism, as scholars attempted to understand motivations for traveling away from 'home' and touristic experiences of places far 'away'. Over time, theories of authenticity have burgeoned from epistemological to ontological notions drawing a broad range of philosophers into tourism research.  

The 14 chapters in this volume explore authenticity in tourism in terms of popular trends in authenticity research: marketing debates, including user-generated authenticity in social media marketing, destinations as tourism product mythologies, and the collaborative potential of experience marketing literature and authenticity research in the case of cacao farms in Brazil; cultural interpretation, in terms of the authentication practices of tourists in Italy, the Trinidad steelpan as a tourism resource, and authenticity in Portugal's interior rural areas; technological trends in tourism, including photography practices in Ireland, authenticity in gastronomic experiences, 3D souvenirs, and light shows; and theoretical inquiries relating to hunting and fishing as ecotourism, authenticity and wilderness, and authenticity as Western, capitalist, and privileged. Contributors work in tourism studies and other fields in Europe, Brazil, Iran, North America, and Australia. --Annotation ©2018 Ringgold Inc. Portland, OR (protoview.com)