Research On The Construction Of Authenticity Perception Model For Cultural Heritage Tourism

Cultural heritage tourism occupies an important position in China’s tourism system,and its vigorous development is in line with the current national strategy.As a social phenomenon,perception is the core of cultural heritage tourists’ experience at the destination,and the focus of cultural heritage tourism research is to explore the relationship between tourists’ perception and behavior.As a core attribute of cultural heritage tourism and a fundamental principle of development,authenticity connects and influences cultural heritage tourism supply and demand sides,and is widely used in cultural heritage tourism development,management,marketing and experience research.However,although many models of perceived authenticity have been developed in academic research to explore cultural heritage tourism experiences and provide guidance for their practice,the existing models of perceived authenticity in cultural heritage tourism do not adequately explain why cultural heritage sites with higher commerciallization can maintain long-term prosperity while those with lower commercialization and pristine conditions usually have few tourists.Tourism commercialization is closely related to authenticity,while destination cultural embeddedness also influences local authenticity.Therefore,this study introduces them into the perceived authenticity model of cultural heritage tourism and forms the final extended model(i.e.CEASL model).Tourism authenticity is deconstructed into four types: objective,constructive,existential,and postmodern,which can cover all types of tourism objects and activities in cultural heritage tourism destinations from premodern to modern to postmodern,and different authenticities can coexist during the experience of cultural heritage tourists.The main purpose of this study is to construct a more explanatory theoretical framework of perceived authenticity in cultural heritage tourism to explore the structural relationships between tourism commercialization,destination cultural embeddedness,objective,constructive,existential and postmodern authenticity,and tourism satisfaction and loyalty,which can more effectively explain the phenomenon of sustainable development of cultural heritage tourism destinations and guide their practical activities.This study also discusses cultural heritage tourism experiences in the context of field theory,and argues that the construction of authentic tourism experience fields can be the overall goal of cultural heritage tourism development.This study followed the scale development procedure to form a formal questionnaire,and the formal survey was conducted in Langzhong Ancient City.Langzhong Ancient City is one of the four most well-preserved historical cities in China,maintaining the urban pattern of the Tang and Song dynasties,the architectural style of the Ming and Qing dynasties,and is famous for its Three Kingdoms culture,known as the “First City of Fengshui in China”.As a well-known Han Chinese cultural heritage destination,Langzhong Ancient City has been renovated,repaired,and rebuilt for tourism development,but it is still both a tourist and a living community,full of authentic atmosphere and not over-commercialized by tourism development.In June 2019,an onsite random sampling method was used to survey the visitors who were traveling in the ancient city,and a total of 618 valid questionnaires were collected.The valid questionnaires were first subjected to descriptive statistical analysis and common method bias test using SPSS 21.0,then model evaluation used the theory development-oriented partial least squares structural equation modeling software Smart PLS 3.0,and post hoc mediation effects analysis based on measurement models and structural model evaluations,and finally simple textual summarization of the responses to 1 open-ended question.This study found that although tourists generally believe that Langzhong Ancient City has higher tourism commercialization,their perceptions of authenticity,cultural embeddedness,satisfaction and loyalty to Langzhong Ancient City were all higher.The most significant findings from the model evaluation include:(1)all four authenticity positively affected tourist satisfaction;(2)only objective and existential authenticity positively affected tourist loyalty;(3)tourism commercialization positively affected four authenticities;(4)tourism commercialization positively affected tourist satisfaction but not tourist loyalty directly;(5)destination cultural embeddedness positively affected objective and constructive authenticity and tourist loyalty;(6)tourism satisfaction was the most influential antecedent of tourist loyalty;(7)four authenticity and tourist satisfaction play different mediating effects under different paths.In addition,the content analysis showed that compared with tourism commercialization,tourists were more concerned about local authenticity.The insights obtained from this study are:(1)Cultural heritage tourism conservation and development should make comprehensive use of different authenticity.Objective,constructive,existential and postmodern authenticity are the foundation,complement,lubricant and regulator of cultural heritage tourism,respectively,and their integrated use is more conducive to the sustainable development of cultural heritage tourism destinations,and the key is to maintain a balance among them.(2)Tourism commerciallization injects vitality into the development of cultural heritage tourism.Heritage authenticity endows the place with capital,tourists endows the place with popularity,and tourism commercialization endows the place with vitality.Cultural heritage tourism suppliers do not need to worry too much about tourism commercialization.Their focus should be on how to maintain the balance between tourism commercialization and authenticities of heritage sites,and avoid over-commercialization.(3)Destination cultural embeddedness enhances the authenticity of cultural heritage tourism sites.Cultural heritage tourism development should not only protect the object authenticity,but also do a good job of shaping the integration of the constructive authenticity of cultural heritage sites.(4)Cultural heritage tourism development can aim at constructing authentic tourism experience fields,because the perception of authenticity is the result of the interaction between tourists themselves and the destination environment and objects as well as other people.(5)Different authenticity has different meanings to the tourism marketing of cultural heritage sites,and different strategies and approaches should be adopted.(6)Cultural heritage tourism management requires multi-stakeholder participation and efforts,and management strategies should be adjusted according to the actual situation.The main innovations of this study include:(1)the construction of a more explanatory model of perceived authenticity in cultural heritage tourism context;(2)the examination of the direct effects of postmodern authenticity on tourist satisfaction and loyalty;and(3)the development of the tourism commercialization and destination cultural embeddedness scales.