Three, “staged authenticity” is said to thwart the tourist’s genuine desire for authentic experiences. MacCannell (1973:597) argued that“Touristic consciousness is motivated by the desire for authentic experiences,and the tourist may believe that he is moving in that direction. . . ” However, it is often the case that “ . . . what is taken to be entry into a back region is really entry into a front region that has been
totally set up in advance [i.e., has been staged] for touristic visitation.”According to MacCannell (1973:593), the tourist, in his desire for authentic experience, is the modern embodiment of the religious pilgrim. Tourism thus appears to become a modern surrogate for religion (MacCannell 1973:589; cf. also Cohen In Press b.). However, it is
implicit in MacCannell’s analysis that there is no salvation in tourism: the tourist establishment dominates the tourist industry, and by mis-leading tourists to accept contrived attractions as “authentic,” creates a“false touristic consciousness.” A fully developed mass tourist system surrounds the tourist with a staged tourist space, from which there is“no exit.” The modern tourist-pilgrim is thus damned to inauthenticity:“Tourists make brave sorties out from their hotels hoping, perhaps, for
an authentic experience, but their paths can be traced in advance over small increments of what is for them increasingly apparent authenticity proffered by [staged] tourist settings. Adventurous tourists progress from stage to stage, always in the public eye, and greeted everywhere by their obliging hosts” (MacCannell 1973:602).