Authenticating Ethnic Tourism

Philip Feifan Xie is an Associate Professor of the Tourism, Leisure and Event Planning program and School Director of Human Movement, Sport and Leisure Studies at Bowling Green State University, Ohio, USA. He holds a PhD in planning from the University of Waterloo, Canada. His areas of specialization include cultural and heritage tourism. He has done extensive research on ethnic tourism in Asia.

• Introduction - Lo auténtico aún existe1. Tourism and Ethnic Peoples2. Authenticity and Commodification3. Hainan Island and Folk Villages4. Governments5. Ethnic Minorities6. Tourists7. Tourism Businesses8. Equilibrium Epilogue: Lo auténtico aún existe

Finally, here is a way to move beyond old debates about authenticity in Tourism Studies, with a pragmatic, useful approach for analyzing “authentification” processes. Xie’s models of stakeholders’ interactions and the paradoxes encountered in ethnic tourism development have worldwide application for academics and stakeholders themselves.