Toward an understanding of tourists’ authentic heritage experiences: Evidence from Hong Kong

Authenticity in tourism has been a topic of discussion since the 1960s, but the concept is still to be fully developed. This study focuses on tourists’ perceptions of authenticity, and in particular how they evaluate authentic heritage experiences. The appearance and physical settings of attractions were found to be the initial and most important indicators of authentic or inauthentic experiences. Other criteria for assessing the authenticity of heritage experiences include the presence of local culture and customs, constructed elements, commodification, and atmosphere

Chinese heritage tourists to heritage sites: what are the effects of heritage motivation and perceived authenticity on satisfaction?

Much of the literature on authenticity is Western-centric, while little work addresses the concept in the Asian environment. The literature relating to authenticity from Asian tourists’ point of view is even underdeveloped. This study therefore aims to fill the knowledge gap by investigating Chinese tourists’ perspective of authenticity. It also examines tourists’ perceived authenticity as a multi-dimensional construct in a consumer-based model, the relationship with heritage motivation and tourist satisfaction. Findings indicate that Chinese tourists’ perceptions of authenticity are closely related to objective and constructive authenticity. The study demonstrates that heritage motivation has a significant positive influence on perceived authenticity and that perceived authenticity has a strong ability to predict tourist satisfaction

Flexible Sojourning in the Era of Globalization: Cross-border Population Mobility in the Hong Kong-Guangdong Border Region

This study of cross-border population mobility in the Hong Kong-Guangdong region adopts a humanistic and disaggregate approach to analyzing how ordinary and sometimes underrepresented people, such as housewives, workers, low-income households and elderly retirees, have engaged in border-crossing as a personal strategy to actively negotiate with the reproduction of regional asymmetry in the era of uneven globalization. Flexible sojourning across the border has long been pursued by the local population in this region as a means of survival during natural catastrophes, economic downturns, wars and political turmoil. Cross-border population mobility has acquired a new momentum in recent years subsequent to the uneven economic and social changes on the two sides of the border. The border-crossers are, seemingly, a uniform group of people whose travel behavior does not deviate from the expectation of conventional wisdom. However, a closer analysis reveals significant differences among the border-crossers. Four main types of border-crossers are identified: shoppers, workers, homebuyers and elderly retirees. Each type demonstrates distinct patterns of border-crossing and makes the trip out of different considerations. Border-crossing has different meanings to people of different social identities. Cross-border mobility can be and has been used by different kinds of people in different ways as a personal strategy to take on the challenges of structural changes at home and across the border. The article calls for an extension of border studies beyond the existing emphasis on border functioning, nation-states and regional development toward examining more seriously and carefully the ordinary people who are involved in border-crossing as a practice of their everyday life. © Joint Editors and Blackwell Publishing Ltd 2005.link_to_subscribed_fulltex

High-resolution mesoscale simulation of the microclimatic effects of urban development in the past, present, and future Hong Kong

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