Trina Stick http://www jeu.edu.au/dept/Tourism/stick html) 51002921 Authenticity and the Indigenous Tourism Experience. Trina Stick B. Admin (Tourism)(Hons) Ethnic Tourism, travelling for the purpose of observing and experiencing the cultural expressions and lifestyles of indigenous societies, is expanding. The increased popularity of visiting these societies, attending dances and ceremonies and possibly participating in religious rituals, has led to the regeneration of awareness and pride in their culture and traditions among the indigenous populations and also the visitors from around the world. The tourism industry has become important to the Australian Aborigines and Torres Strait Islanders, as it has stimulated the creation and recreation of new meanings for traditional practices. A few studies in recent years have been undertaken to seek an understanding of what tourists expect and desire from ethnic tourism. This form of tourism can be characterised by the tourists search for novel, authentic and quality tourist experiences and by the tourism industries provision of such experiences. In the face of a strange phenomenon the tourists draw on their own preconceptions and limited experiences as they struggle to interpret the signs of indigenous life in front of them. These preconceptions and images of indigenous cultures have been absorbed from movies, television, books and promotional material which tend to portray the traditional or "authentic" images associated with the past. It is often the case that these images and preconceptions are mismatched with the actual experience or product available, resulting in the experiences viewed as "unauthentic". On the whole, there is often little compatibility between the demands of the tourism industry and the product supplied by many aboriginal enterprises. Authenticity involves the immersion of a residents life into the rhythm and flow of the host community. For some tourists, the authentic is equated with objects untouched by western influences, the trade associated with commoditization, and with artists working from primitive drives, while for others, a commercialised replication of local customs may suffice as an authentic product. Spooner (1986) suggests that consumer demand for authenticity is driven by a search for products that provide an element of distinction or differentness in { consumers lives. This is illustrated in the western consumers long-standing interest in the differences presented by people from other cultures and in consumers search for authenticity not just in the product, but in the unusual social and cultural conditions under which the | product was produced. | Crucial to the tourist experience are differentiations of society and a sense of how other | people live. Images portray these natives as static and timeless, however many have argued that no indigenous society had a singular identity or set of traditions prior to contact with the west, and that tradition is not static but rather always changing. terms of one another through direct and indirect communication, in which new but authentic signs and symbols are produced, representing one culture to another. Through the marketing of these cultures, the symbols become arbitrarily attached to commodities in the illusory assembly of competitive advertising strategies. The increased competition is one of the driving forces that sustains an ever creative search for difference. | ‘The many cultures (and subcultures) of the world are constantly redefining their cultures in | | The issue of authenticity, which runs like an obligation through studies of tourism, is held to | have been produced by a variety of entrepreneurs, marketing agents, interpretative guides, | animators, and institutional mediators. Travel literature continues to present multifaceted | Ide2 17/06/98 11:31 AMSETS SSO Trina Stick 2de2 brtp://www.jeu.edu.aw/dept/Tourismistick html images of authenticity through new marketable tourism products, depicted as the unspoiled or previously untouched worlds. Many theories on tourism have often remained fixated around the ideas of myths and authenticity. This has resulted in tourism being equated with commodification and the ruin of authenticity, ‘The further away the audiences are from the direct experiences of metropolitan life the more likely they are to construct imagined worlds which are chimerical, aesthetic, even fantastic objects, particularly if assessed by the criteria of some other perspective, some other imagined world (Hughes, 1995). This has particular bearing on the interaction of tourism and destination through a range of partialities and expectations whose eventual expression. contributes to the cultural construction of places. Itis difficult to conceive an unmediated direct experience when much interaction with the world is informed by print, television, satelite, films, advertising, and commodity production. This does imply the requirement for the reformation of authenticity. ‘Authenticity continues to reside in the resistances, choices and commitments that individuals express within the opportunities and constraints provided by globalised markets and global imagery to which international tourism is an increasingly major contributor. This study endeavours to look at visitor's perceptions, expectations and satisfaction of Aboriginal tourism experiences. Any incongruity between visitor's expectations and their actual experience will be identified. As stated in Pearce (1988), the concept of image emphasises the tourist's expectations and the degree of authenticity impacts on the on-site experience and level of satisfaction of the visitor. Therefore the images or perceptions of visitors and the perceived authenticity of an attraction will be compared to detect any discrepancies between what is promoted and the actual product available. This comparison will also provide information on what factors influence a visitor's views of authenticity. The sample is taken from three Aboriginal attractions in Far North Queensland, the Rainforestation/Pamagirri Dancers, Kuranda; Tjapukai Cultural Park, Smithfield; and KuKu Yalanji Dreamtime Tours, Mossman Gorge. Data was collected via a ten to fifteen minute structured interview based on a written questionnaire. This procedure ensured a 100% response rate and a fully completed questionnaire. [List of Topics/ Back to Tourism Page/ Destination Image/ Next Page] Copyright 1998. All rights reserved, This is an official World Wide Web page of James Cook University. It has been developed and maintained by the Tourism Program. Last modified 26 January 1998, 17/06/98 11:31 AM