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This chapter focuses on the authentication of wilderness and the mechanisms of power and agency through which the wilderness has come to assume its patina of authenticity, often associated with masculinity, challenge, self-(re)creation, pristine landscapes, and, perhaps above all, authenticity. Rather than examining the concept of authenticity, this chapter focuses on its process; using notions of “hot” and “cool” authentication, it attends to the ways individuals and groups navigate social terrain through discourse and performance to construct authenticity in wilderness landscapes. It examines the various mechanisms through which authenticity in wilderness is constructed, measured, and assessed, attending to the “hot” and “cool” authentication of the American wilderness.

Mass-market production of souvenirs, their disposability and their mixed up, interpretive styling may detach the tourist from the actual experience. Conversely, it is the personal relationship that is formed between the tourist and the souvenir that makes the object authentic. The personalization of souvenirs, through 3D printing, offers opportunities for a different approach to manufacturing that influences notions of authenticity. In this way, it is possible to escape the serial reproduction of culture, engage tourists in the creation of meaning, and (re)frame the connections among them, their visited places, and their souvenirs. This chapter considers how the personalization of souvenirs through 3D printing technologies challenges and redefines existing notions of authenticity in touristic consumption.

This chapter focuses on the territory of Schist Villages Network, located in Central Portugal, which has become the target of sustainable development projects. These projects aim at conservation of natural and cultural landscapes, the valorization of heritage, boosting of socioeconomic parameters, and promotion of excellence in tourism with emphasis on hospitality. Empirical research applied different questionnaires to four stakeholders: local population, local decisionmakers, economic agents, and tourists and visitors. The data obtained were used to analyze stakeholders’ perceptions of cultural heritage and traditional roots, seen as essential elements of the territory’s authenticity, both from the point of view of tourism motivation and satisfaction with lived experiences, as well as to evaluate their loyalty to and image of the network as a destination.

The author investigates and debates around authenticity in relation to the heritage communities of a Chinese intangible cultural heritage (ICH) item ‘Nüshu’. Nüshu is a monosyllabic phonetic system of writing created and used by women in the Jiangyong County, Hunan Province, in Southern China. Drawing on insights from both online and offline ethnographies, this study argues that in the field of ICH, disputes over heritage authenticity are fiercely negotiated by different stakeholders, including powerful state and supra-state actors. However, the emergence of digital platform has become a way for Nüshu participants to perform their identity and competence and lay claim to their own heritage authenticity.

Although the gazing qualities of the natural environment play an essential role in the communication of tourist experiences, the natural environment is an under-communicated and underused element in the staging of tourist activities. To illustrate the potential staging strategies for tourism firms as they relate to natural environments, this paper presents a discussion of two cases from northern Norway: a dog-sled race and a Northern Lights hunt. Interpretative data analysis of the respective cases’ staging strategies was undertaken to shed light on how each case opted to stage the natural environment. Viewed as separate from the exploration of the cases, the paper includes a discussion of the staging dimensions of exploration, play, and learning. Furthermore, the benefits linked to the use of these dimensions were brought to the fore as important to efforts at involving tourists in the offered activities and in facilitating cocreation.

In marketing literature, notions of experience and consumer value have continuously been revisited since early works in the 1980s. This chapter deals with how tourism services are a paradigmatic realm for the analysis and application of the experiential approach by (a) providing evidence of the idiosyncrasy of the experiential approach for tourism services based on their high subjectivity, the relevance of emotions and sensations, their aggregated nature and the many interactions and contexts they provoke, and (b) reviewing previous works applying the experiential perspective to tourism, which are varied and multifaceted. Dimensions of tourism experiential value correspond to cognitive, affective, relational and sensorial aspects, which are present in the various phases of the tourism consumption process. Insights for both researchers and practitioners interested in the world of experiences in tourism are offered, as well as future lines of research to continue the challenge of studying tourism experiences.

The tourism industry in South Africa today faces the dual challenges of finding ways to extend tourism spending into previously marginalised communities and to redress the imbalances in cultural representations of those communities. The legacy of formal racial segregation is extremely difficult to reverse. The study investigated the potential of Edu-tourism to fundamentally change tourism dynamics. This approach targets young, intelligent, ‘new tourists’ who choose different types of visitor experiences and contribute to changing the way South Africans value and use their own cultures. The method used included requiring students to design tourist packages, in consultation with tour guides, visitors and local community members. The outcomes provide stimulation for new research, widely distributed income generation and building bridges between divided communities.