Authenticity of Tourism Products

Authenticity of Tourist
Products
RTK531 – TOURISM PLANNING & DEVELOPMENT
“The culture and heritage value are related and can

attract tourist with their authenticity, genuinely and originality.
Heritage resource should be planned by great stories that reflect to
the original heritage and culture. In other hand, a great stories and
exact information can support the heritage tourism by doing
conservation and preservation programme.”
AHMAD ZAMIL ZAKARIA

S-RM0049/08
Msc in Tourism Development
Authenticity of Tourism Products
RTK531 – Tourism Planning and Development
TABLE OF CONTENTS
Item Pages
Acknowledgement 3
Abstract 4
1.0 Authenticity 5
1.1 My Understanding to Authenticity Means 6
2.0 Tourism Products 7
2.1 My Understanding about Tourism Products 8
3.0 Heritage Resource 9
3.1 My Understanding about Heritage Resource 9
4.0 Designing Tourism Products 10
4.1 My Understanding about Designing Tourism Products 11
5.0 The Local Perspective 11
5.1 My Understanding about the Local Perspective 12
Conclusion 12
References 13
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School of Housing Building and Planning
Page
Universiti Sains Malaysia

AUTHENTICITY OF TOURISM PRODUCTS
AHMAD ZAMIL BIN ZAKARIA

S-RM0049/08
School Of Housing Building And Planning
Abstract:
Tourism products is an application of ideas and terminologies drawn from marketing science
has been particularly apparent in that sector of tourism which makes use of the past as a
tourist attraction. Tourism products can be programmed to be more efficient and profitable in
term of economics. Today, there are many types of tourism products can be found. Therefore
the tourism products can be classified from the type of activities and the tourist needs. Other
than that natural element, facilities including infrastructure and superstructure; along with
accessibility will considered as main factors to design a tourism products. Nowadays, tourists
are more concern towards education and heritage tourism. They love to get information,
interesting facts and natural elements. The tourism product’s basic raw materials would be
the country’s natural beauty, climate, history, culture and the people. The authenticity of
tourism products is very important to attract tourist towards the heritage places. The
attractions could be cultural like sites and areas of archaeological interest, historical buildings
and monuments or scenic like flora and fauna, beaches, mountains and national parks. The
culture and heritage value are related and can attract tourist with their authenticity, genuinely
and originality. Heritage resource should be planned by great stories that reflect to the
original heritage and culture. In other hand, a great stories and exact information can support
the heritage tourism by doing conservation and preservation programme. By enhancing the
promotion and marketing, it can help the tourists to feel and experience more of the tourism
products in each place. ‘Marketing’ by definition is the development of a product to meet the
needs of the consumer and then employing the techniques of direct sales, publicity and
advertising to bring this product to the consumer.
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1.0 Authenticity
Authenticity could be defined as a product or representation of the particular culture or

heritage which produced it. When trying to declare something as authentic, it is important to
know “based on what?”, who makes the call?, why and for what purpose?, how is the story
being told? This brings us to needing to understand such constructs as “historical fact”,
“folklore”, and even “fakelore”. Folklore: is made up of the traditional things we say (including
local histories and folk stories), things we make and things we do. Fakelore: to describe that
which is connected, falsified, fabricated or refined from the raw data of the anonymous
tradition of folklore by particular individuals usually for profit.
(Source: http://www.ohiohillcountry.org/index.php)
Authenticity can be achieved in terms of experiencing the physical environment, or through a

social interaction or people-based experience.
Four possible scenarios of a tourist experience:
1) Authentic people in authentic environment

2) Authentic people in inauthentic environment
3) Inauthentic people in inauthentic environment
4) Inauthentic people in authentic environment
Aspects of the experience:
1) The social interaction (with local people)

2) The physical environment (the site)
The potentiality of having an authentic tourist experience in both spheres, the physical and
the social, is there but in a way it is the individual tourist him / herself who will determine the
authenticity of the experience especially in the social interaction aspect of the experience.
Element of the authenticity of the experience depends on the tourist: “Depends on who the
person is and how they felt when they are through going through the sites”.
(Source: J.J. Zorilla (2000), Authenticity in the Context of Ethnic Tourism: The Local Perspective, University
of Calgary, Canada)
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1.1 My Understanding to Authentic Means
The authenticity of certain product can be showed by culture and heritage of each ethnic or
race in the country. By doing the preservation and conservation programme, all artefacts,
archaeological things and monuments can be enjoyed by us today. In this case, the authentic
tourism products can be referred to certain things which have a historical value and great
interesting stories. To give clear and exact information to the tourist, we should plan a certain
trails which can give continuity of the historical and heritage places. There are two types of
historical facts to be considered in each story line. First is folklore, that means a way of life
and traditional things including local histories and folk stories. Second is fakelore, that mean
the way how to give distinct information which is refined from the raw data of the anonymous
tradition of folklore by particular individuals usually for profit. Everything that is authentic does
not have to be old or historic, but the basis for the claim needs to be established and shared
with the person hearing the story in other words, put in perspective by setting the stage or
context in which the authenticity is derived.
1.2 Example of the authenticity products
This fort which is also known as ‘A Famosa’ meaning the

famous has many gateways and bastions (control / watching
platform). Only through this gateway, Porto de Santiago still
remains today. With the conservation and preservation
programme, the monument is a part of the historical,
heritage and culture products in Malaysia.
Photo 1: Porto de Santiago gateway as today

This fort was built in 1540 during the reign of Sultan Alaudin
Riayat Shah II, the prince of Sultan Mahmud Shah of
Melaka, when it was invade by the Portuguese in 1511. The
fort that is located in Tanjung Batu was part of the Johor
Lama settlements with government and defence centre
along the Johor River. Today, only a few graves, old wells
and a few defence walls still remains preserved and
conserved by government of Malaysia.
Photo 2: The fortress was buried under the ground
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2.0 Tourism Products
A ‘product’ may be defined as the ‘Sum of the physical and psychological satisfactions it
provides to buyer’. In the case of tourism product, the basic raw materials would be the
country’s natural beauty, climate, history, culture and the people.
(Source: A.K. Bhatia (1991), Tourism Development – Principle and Practices, Sterling Publishers Private Ltd,
New Delhi)
Major Considerations:
• The attractions cover both natural elements (landscape, seascape, climate and
ecological factors) and manmade ones (reservoirs, chair lifts, cable railways to scenic
viewing points, cultural activities, historical sites and buildings).
• The facilities include the infrastructures and superstructures of the area (accommodation,
local transport, roads, railways, airports and other public services).
• Accessibility is measured not only in the time taken to travel to the resort but also by the
modes of transport available (air, sea, rail, road) and the degree of comfort involved ( for
example the use of smaller aircraft or wide-bodied jets).
( Source : F. Douglas ( 1985), Travel and Tourism Management, The Macmillan Press Ltd, London )
Types of Tourism Products:
Although the typical mainstream tour package might involve routine 7 – 14 day tours
encompassing several cities in a region, increasingly special packages are being created for
niche attractions. A useful definition or common thread for organizing special tourism
programs would be that they appeal to a narrow, like-interested population base. The US
Tour Operators Association Web site, for example, lists about 50 types of special tourism
products including the following:
1) Alumni 8) Culinary 17) Honeymoons/ 23) Shopping

2) Archaeology 9) Farm weddings 24) Singles
3) Architectural 10) Fishing 18) Horses/ranches 25) Spa
4) Barge/river 11) Gardens 19) Hot-air 26) Theatre/opera
cruises 12) Gay/lesbian ballooning 27) Whale watching
5) Bicycling 13) Golf 20) Nature/wildlife/ 28) Winery
6) Bird watching 14) Heritage safaris
7) Castle/chateau 15) Hiking/trekking 21) Rafting
stays 16) History 22) Railroad
( Source: B.S. Paul (2008), Travel and Tourism – An Industry Primer, Pearson Prentice Hall, New Jersey )
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2.1 My Understanding about Tourism Products
Tourism products in definition are the combination between tourism package and marketing.
The package sold either to the individual tourist himself or by using travel agents. Tourist
product also known as the attraction of each place and it provides tourist with facilities and
accessibility for their convenience. The attractions offered to the tourist should be prominent
and could represent that place itself. We must deeply introduce the tourist about the place
they like to visit. The places that are potential to attract tourist should have the element such
as archaeological sites, historical buildings and monuments; also natural elements (beaches,
mountains / highlands and seas). The examples of attraction places in Malaysia are
Langkawi Island, Mount Kinabalu and Cameron Highlands. The facilities offered to the tourist
should be convenience and comfortable to use. Facilities can help to enhance and develop
the attraction places by providing the accommodation, entertainment place, recreational area
and camping site. Through providing accessibility, it can assist and ease the tourist to go to
the attraction place. Accessibility design should connect all the attraction places. Nowadays,
there are several types of tourist and it influenced the tourism products:
1) Rest and relaxation – tourist who needs relaxation to release their tension. This kind
of tourist needs a comfortable accommodation but at the same time, is affordable
in price.
2) Cultural visits – interested in experiencing others’ culture and heritage. The location
usually visited by the tourist such as historical places and villages (homestay).
3) Educational visits – people who go for a studies at the other place. The examples are
people who further their studies or attend the short / long courses.
4) Exotic and unusual holiday – needs an extreme experience, such as camping in the
jungle / up the mountain / national parks, fishing at deep seas or cruising along
the river. Usually they just need a minimum facility.
5) Travel as norm behaviour – people who have tourism behaviour. They like to travel
abroad or by cruising the sail if they have free times. Usually they need smooth
routes and activities appropriate with their status.
6) Other travellers for pleasure – The common interest tourist will follow a similar
reasoning and response as that of the cultural tourist. The location, status and
other aspects of the casino will rank more highly.
7) Business traveller – for business purposes. Influence by time and mode of travelling,
routes, duration of trip and destination. Business travel tends to be price inelastic
and non-seasonal.
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3.0 HERITAGE RESOURCE
A heritage resource is an authentic resource that reflects or conveys tangibles or intangible

elements of local heritage. Categories of heritage resources currently include sites, services,
events, tours, routes, products and living treasures. Future categories will include
communities and landscapes. In addition to authenticity, the programme emphasizes the
importance of interpretation – the way that resources convey their importance to visitors, or
how they “tell the story” of heritage they reflect. The authenticity criteria for each type of
resource are slightly different, because each type raises different issues. For a building to be
considered authentic, it must have an appearance that is consistent with its periods of
significance – the era that is most important in the building’s history.
Heritage Products
A heritage product is an endemic folk and decorative art, craft, or trade object that
authentically reflects local heritage. As a physical expression of commonly held beliefs,
customs, and traditions, each Heritage Product has a unique and well-defined cultural
significance. Heritage products are made locally by skilled artisans, craftsmen and women,
and trades people. A heritage product is generally made by hand using traditional materials
and time – honoured methods of production. Creative contemporary interpretations of
traditional designs, patterns, motifs, or styles must bear a reasonably apparent relationship to
the recognized traditional form of the product to warrant its designation as a Heritage
Product. Heritage products are not factory – made, manufactured, mass produced in an
assembly line, or made from a kit.
(Source: http://lancastercountyheritage.com)
3.1 My Understanding about Heritage Resource
Heritage resource is authentic things that convey the evident element of local heritage.
Heritage resource can be categorised into several character such as sites, services, events,
tours, routes, products and living treasures. Other categories are relationship between
community and landscapes. In other hand, all interpretations about heritage are depending
on who tell the stories. Interpretation is the art of explaining the natural, historic, or cultural
significance of a resource to the public. It is not enough for a resource to be a significant part
of the country’s natural, historic, or cultural heritage – it must convey that message to visitors
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through effective interpretation. Heritage products such as endemic folk, decorative art, craft,
or trade object that authentically reflect to a local heritage. Heritage products are usually man
made. It is made by locally skills artisan, craftsmen and trade people. Every motive or design
for the heritage products showing the originality, the relationship between traditional form and
heritage to be emphasized. Other than that, the heritage products are not manufactured and
massly produced but they are only made by skills artisan and expertise.
The souvenir shop at Pantai Cenang sells T-shirt, key

chain, craft and other thing related to Pantai Cenang
and Langkawi Island. Today, they are emphasizing
Langkawi as Geopark since it is being awarded by that
status by UNESCO.
Photo 3: Souvenir shop at Pantai Cenang, Langkawi
Floating market at Bangkok, Thailand is the most

interesting place to buy a local heritage product. The
uniqueness of this place is tourist must cruise along the
river to buy a souvenir.
Photo 4 : Floating market at Bangkok, Thailand
4.0 DESIGNING TOURISM PRODUCTS
Tourism products such as accommodation, hospitality, attractions, events, and other tourist
services should be considered in a site plan. These tourist facilities include hostels,
restaurants, hospitals, and public restrooms. When developing a site plan the following
factors should be considered:
1) The scale and type of development.
2) The kind of tourism activities (ecotourism, heritage tours), facilities, attractions and
amenities that will be included in a site plan.
3) Approaches that minimizes negative impacts through design, land-use planning
zoning and management.
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4) Development of a project financing strategies that focus on local control and minimize
economic leakage from the community.
5) Tourism vision statements and goals that are communicated to commercial and other
stakeholders of the sites to be included in the planning.
6) Policies that allow room for future growth and alteration in the plan and the sites
themselves
(Source: Canadian Universities Consortium, A Manual for Sustainable Tourism Destination Management,
Canada)
4.1 My Understanding about Designing Tourism Products
Tourism product such as accommodation, hospitality, attraction and other services should
consider about site plan. The purpose of having site plan is to know the scale and types of
development, to know what kind of activities that are suitable for the tourist, the attraction
sites and amenities to propose in the site plan. The site plan also is used to set up
approaches to minimize the negative impact by design, land-use planning and management.
Most of the tourist love to visit the main attraction places. Therefore we should know the
tourist volumes and flows towards the main attraction place. We also have to consider the
facilities and amenities provide for their convenience and safety. Accessibility to the main
attraction place also is a main issue to minimize the negative impacts. Main road to the
attraction place should have continuity between other attraction places. It can give extra
experience to tourist when they are going for a pleasure trip.
5.0 THE LOCAL PERSPECTIVE
The potentiality of having an authentic tourist experience in both spheres, the physical and
the social, is there but in a way it is the individual tourist him / herself who will determine the
authenticity of the experience especially in the social interaction aspect of the experience.
Element of the authenticity of the experience depends on the tourist: “Depends on who the
person is and how they felt when they are through going through the sites”.
(Source: J.J. Zorilla (2000), Authenticity in the Context of Ethnic Tourism: The Local Perspective, University
of Calgary, Canada)
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5.1 My Understanding about the Local Perspective
When certain areas undergo a development, there will be some benefit to the local people.
The area developed by the tourism industry will focus on attracting tourist to come to that
place. The failure to control the volume of tourist can make congestion to that place, natural
element also will be damaged by vandalism, spreading of yellow culture, changing jobs and
disturbance of social system. From the economic aspects, local people will gain financial
benefits, switch the service to tourist and offer vacancies to the local people.
6.0 CONCLUSION
It is widely recognized that authenticity plays a major role in some kinds of tourism including
tourism products. The authenticity of a cultural manifestation can only be determined by the
performers of such manifestation. Tourism products also influenced by the interaction
between tourists in a context of cultural presentation. By providing that experience and the
elements they take into account in order to determine the authenticity of the tourist
experience. We can teach, show or share something about the site; they are free to do it on
the way that they think is most appropriate.
Cultural heritage tourism benefits communities and the country by:
• Creating jobs and businesses

• Diversifying the local economy
• Attracting visitors interested in history and preservation
• Increasing historic attraction revenues
• Preserving local traditions and culture
• Generating local investment in historic resources
• Building community pride in heritage
• Increasing awareness of the site or area's significance
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REFERENCES
1) B.S. Paul (2008), Travel and Tourism – An Industry Primer, Pearson Prentice Hall, New
Jersey.
2) A. Gregory, G. Brian ( 1991), Marketing Tourism Places, Routlegde Chapman and Hall Inc,
New York.
3) F. Douglas ( 1985), Travel and Tourism Management, The Macmillan Press Ltd, London.
4) A.K. Bhatia (1991), Tourism Development – Principle and Practices, Sterling Publishers
Private Ltd, New Delhi.
5) Canadian Universities Consortium, A Manual for Sustainable Tourism Destination

Management, Canada.
6) W. Bruce (2004), Direct Marketing of Crafts and Souvenirs to Vladimir Visitors, University
of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign.
7) J.J. Zorilla (2000), Authenticity in the Context of Ethnic Tourism: The Local Perspective,
University of Calgary, Canada.
8) http://lancastercountyheritage.com
9) http://www.tpdco.org//index.php
10) http://www.ohiohillcountry.org/index.php
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Authenticity of Tourist

“The culture and heritage value are related and can

AHMAD ZAMIL ZAKARIA

1.1 My Understanding to Authenticity Means 6

2.0 Tourism Products 7

2.1 My Understanding about Tourism Products 8

3.0 Heritage Resource 9

3.1 My Understanding about Heritage Resource 9

4.0 Designing Tourism Products 10

4.1 My Understanding about Designing Tourism Products 11

5.0 The Local Perspective 11

5.1 My Understanding about the Local Perspective 12

Msc in Tourism Development

Universiti Sains Malaysia