Authenticity and sincerity in tourism

The paper explores the concept of authenticity with regard to the preseniation of Maori in New Zealand. It is argued that the creation of authenticity is important to tourism as a distancing device which prompts desire and the production of value. However, this analysis also suggests that its temporal implications and "tradition" in tourism have tended toward the reification of modernist essentialization concerning Otherness, and to a negativity that would undermine experience and the touristic presentation of local identities. A further term, "sincerity", is introduced by way of contrast to the notion of authenticity and illustrated by corresponding examples of two kinds of Maori tourism. (C) 2000 Elsevier Science Ltd. All rights reserved.