Creating authentic indigenous tourism experiences

Roshis Krishna Shrestha, J.N. Patrick L'Espoir Decosta and Michelle Whitford

Annals of Tourism Research, 2025, vol. 110, issue C

Abstract: As Indigenous tourism gains momentum worldwide, tourists are increasingly seeking authentic Indigenous experiences. Authenticity in Indigenous tourism stems from Indigenous people's unique worldview of the connection between humans and nature. However, little is known about what prompts Indigenous peoples to develop authentic and meaningful tourism experiences. This conceptual study explores the role played by the autonomous motivation of Indigenous tourism business owners in the creation, negotiation, and delivery of authentic experiences. Informed by self-determination theory, this paper discusses a continuum of motivation within an Indigenous tourism context and shows how various forms of motivation contribute to the creation of authentic tourism experiences. Place relatedness is identified as a pivotal determinant in Indigenous people's autonomous motivation to engage in tourism activities.

Keywords: Self-determination; Intrinsic motivation; Authentic experiences; Place relatedness; Tourist-host relatedness (search for similar items in EconPapers)
Date: 2025
References: Add references at CitEc
Citations:

Downloads: (external link)
http://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S0160738324001592
Full text for ScienceDirect subscribers only

Related works:
This item may be available elsewhere in EconPapers: Search for items with the same title.

Export reference: BibTeX RIS (EndNote, ProCite, RefMan) HTML/Text

Persistent link: https://EconPapers.repec.org/RePEc:eee:anture:v:110:y:2025:i:c:s0160738324001592

DOI: 10.1016/j.annals.2024.103882

Access Statistics for this article

Annals of Tourism Research is currently edited by John Tribe

More articles in Annals of Tourism Research from Elsevier
Bibliographic data for series maintained by Catherine Liu ().