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| A COMPARATIVE STUDY OF AUTHENTICITY IN TOURISM HOME AND ABOARD OVER THE PAST FIFTEEN YEARS |
| CHEN Wen-ling, SU Qin |
| College of Territorial Resources and Tourism, Anhui Normal University, Wuhu 241003, China |
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Abstract The concept of authenticity originates from museum literature, which is defined as any object which is true or fake. With the development of economy and tourism, there are lots of things which become inauthentic. On one hand, globalization and commercialization have brought in more and more conflicts, and without authenticity, destinations lack personality, which makes them show the similar images to tourists. On the other hand, tourists need to travel to authentic destinations and realize their true selves, given the homogeneity of globalization and their daily pressure. In all, authenticity has become of great importance.
The theory of authenticity from the museum field to the tourism industry has been studied over 40 years, but there is no unified conclusion until now. The view of authenticity research turns from tourism objects to tourism subjects at the beginning, and then to a multiple perspectives. With more and more conflicts appearing and the understanding of authenticity, the authenticity theory has been divided into four genres: objectivism, constructivism, existentialism and postmodernism. The research of authenticity has been divided into two phases over 40 years. The first stage is from 1960s to the mid-1990s, and the second stage is from the mid-1990s to the present. The research during the first stage mainly had been proceeded in foreign countries. The second stage is a period of great development of the research at home and abroad, surging in the number of domestic and foreign literature, and especially filling the gap of domestic research.
Although some people have done an overview of authenticity, no one has done comparisons about authenticity research from theory to practice at home and aboard. This article sums up the research over the past 15 years, compares the domestic and foreign research, finds out the current situation and lack of the research, and lastly makes inspiration. It is so comprehensive and accurate that to provide a great reference for future research, especially in our country.
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Received: 15 September 2011
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2012, Vol. 27 
