Tourism and Socio-cultural Development Issues - Tourism and Development: Concepts and Issues - page 227

countries. Although tourists claim to seek the 'authentic' or 'genuine' culture
of host communities, how far they can really accept and appreciate the
'authentic' is always questionable (Hitchcock et al. , 1993). It is not uncom-
mon for the 'authentic' culture to be too different, too strange or too compli-
cated for tourists to fully comprehend. They do not want to spend all day
watching rituals which they may not understand or for which they may
have insufficient time, given busy travel itineraries. Safety is of the utmost
concern for tourists. They want to experience a little bit of a thrill from a
safe distance, but they often do not want to risk their safety by participating
in cultural activities. Perhaps the factor that causes the most serious cogni-
tive dissonance is tourists' stereotypical image or idea of how an authentic
culture should be. The modern tourism industry's success relies on successful
image-creation of destinations (Morgan & Pritchard, 1998; Selwyn, 1993)
and there are many such 'success' stories. Images of Scotland that are not
true reflections of Scottish history are an example (Butler, 1998b).
Information is acquired from travel guidebooks, lure books, travel pro-
grammes on TV, the internet, travel journals, novels, or even from friends
and relatives. Bruner (1995) observed that many tourists from North America
only wanted to 'see' what was illustrated in a National Geographic magazine,
but they did not bother to wait for 'authentic' cultural performances in
Indonesia, which were, in this particular case, running late. Often tourists'
quest for authenticity does not go beyond the confirmation of stereotypical
images. When these images and ideas do not match authentic cultural exhibi-
tions, tourists tend to reduce dissonance by rejecting such 'authentic' cultural
exhibitions.
In addition to tourists' views, host communities have different approaches
to the display of their own culture. For host populations, it is a good idea to
maintain and preserve culture, tradition and arts and crafts, not only for
tourists but also for future generations. However, host populations soon
learn that tourists often do not understand the true value of indigenous cul-
ture. In cases such as these, certain parts of rituals are considered too sacred
to share with outsiders who do not fully appreciate them. Host populations
also realise that tourists prefer only a certain kind/part of their cultures. By
accommodating both tourists' and hosts' views, displays of 'authentic' cul-
ture become merely performances or 'staged authenticity'. Staged authentic-
ity is observed commonly in the following forms: shortened and abbreviated
versions of cultural performances, highlighting the parts/types of cultural
performance and crafts that suit tourists' tastes, re-creation of the stage in a
more Westernised and modern environment, and re-arranging or changing
some parts of hosts' cultures so that they make sense and are acceptable to
tourists. A few examples of the occurrence of these changes include cultural
performances and displays at the Polynesian Culture Centre in Hawaii
(Stanley, 1998), performances of the Peking Opera highlights at Taoyuen
Theatre in Beijing, the 'touristification' of Balinese culture in Indonesia