I once spent a few months in a small town in northern Jamaica doing research on the impacts of the new cruise port that had just been built there. I rented a room in a house that was owned by a non-profit focused on restoring local buildings in a historically accurate way – so my digs were pretty nice compared to much of the rest of the town. There were a few important things I learned during my time there that opened my eyes to what life can be like for people living in a tourism destination in a developing country (if you want to read about all the impacts of tourism experienced by people living in this town, you can check out the (academic) article I wrote about them here). Here are just a few things that I experienced during my time there:
- When I turned the faucet on every morning, depending on how many cruise ships were in port that day, water may or may not come out of the faucet.
- We had a couple of computers in our house for various work projects that were going on – and it was standard practice for the doors to not only be locked at night, but to also be barred from the inside.
- You really don’t want to have a hole in your mosquito net. Even though our house had screens in all the windows, in warm and/or humid destinations, mosquitos are everywhere.
These are three pretty minor things I had to think about on a daily basis, and for some travelers these things are the norm. In terms of the world as a whole, Jamaica is actually a pretty ‘developed’ tourism destination. Although in any continent, region, country, city, etc. you can find places that are much more or much less developed than the rest. Those travelers who are Trendsetters and maybe some of you who are Explorers in terms of your traveler personality probably wouldn’t mind those things. For those of you who are Adapters, Daytrippers, and Relaxers, thinking about a vacation to Jamaica probably does not elicit imagery of non-functioning water faucets, barred doors, and mosquito nets.
Authenticity is a concept that is talked about constantly in the travel world. Some travelers will expend a huge amount of time and money to get an authentic travel experience, while others don’t know or care what authenticity is or what it means for their trip. This post discusses what authenticity in travel really is, why it is (or isn’t) important to the travel experience, and whether it is something you really want, or just something you think you want.
What is authenticity in tourism?
I teach about authenticity in a lot of my classes, and there are a lot of researchers out there who have pondered this question a lot longer than I have. What is authenticity? The dictionary will tell you that authenticity means real or genuine; not copied or false. That is a pretty close match to what authentic means in the tourism world. However, I think the real question we should be asking is what an “authentic experience” means to travelers. I think most travelers fall into one of three categories with their answer to that question:
- I want to authentically experience what people living in x destination see and do in their every day lives, including food, culture, language, etc.
- I want to experience an authentic representation of the food, language, culture, etc. of x destination, created within the tourist bubble.
- I want to experience what I think the food, culture, language, etc. of a destination are like.
This is probably a question that many travelers have not pondered too deeply before taking their trips. If they did, I figure that the majority of people would self identify as belonging to category #1. In reality, I think people ACTUALLY probably fall into either category #2 or category #3. This brings us to the concept on frontstage and backstage in the tourism destination.
Fronstage vs Backstage
Frontstage and backstage in tourism are essentially the same thing as frontstage and backstage in a theatre or the concept of ‘front of house’ and ‘back of house’ in essentially any service related job. Let’s use the example of a theatre. The ‘actors’ in the frontstage put on a show. They are expected to act, sound, and look a certain way – the people sitting in the seats paid good money to see the play, and it is the actors’ responsibility to give them a show. Many tourism destinations have, intentionally or not, developed frontstage and backstage areas that serve similar purposes as those in a theater. The frontstage is typically the area either formally or informally designated for tourism activities, which is often done through specific zoning ordinances. Throughout the world, a huge number of destinations have widely recognized ‘tourism zones’ – think Waikiki in Hawaii, The Las Vegas strip, or the thin strip of land that holds all of Cancun’s hotels, restaurants, and attractions. These tourism zones are where the tourist experience is produced – and in most of those places, that experience is carefully curated to provide the experience that tourists expect.
The big difference
The experience you have in a tourist zone is most often the 2nd or 3rd description of an ‘authentic experience’ that I provided above. However, venture out of Waikiki, The Strip, and the Hotel Zone in Cancun, and you’re liable to have a wildly different experience. Not to say that it isn’t a good experience, simply different. Some travelers can’t stand the curated experience that is found in the tourism zone; others seek out those experiences specifically because they’re designed to be a good time. To me, the most important element of the equation is awareness. Awareness that much of what we see in many tourism destinations is not really how people in those locations live their everyday lives. Often times tourism destinations cherry pick elements of culture that look appealing to tourists and greatly exaggerate them in creating their tourism product. This can lead to negative outcomes for the people who live there, including things like commoditization of culture and loss of cultural meaning – both of which occur when elements of culture are consumed by others. On the plus side, sometimes tourism can preserve cultural practices that otherwise would have disappeared if it weren’t a tourist attraction.
The bottom line
When you’re planning your trip, think about your traveler personality and what that means for your travel experience. Just because you don’t want to experience the real lives of people who live in a tourism destination doesn’t mean you can’t have meaningful interactions with your hosts. Ask questions, be open minded, and you just might find bits and pieces of authenticity when you least expect it.