Recreating history: The evolving negotiation of staged authenticity in tourism experiences

This study advances understanding of staged authenticity in historical heritage tourism experiences by investigating consumer views on a new tourism attraction that seeks to recreate an authentic European medieval culture experience in an inauthentic setting, Australia. Interviews (N = 30) and a survey (N = 629) reveal that education, entertainment, escapism, and aesthetic experiential values, as well as staged authenticity, has a significant positive relationship to attitudes towards the recreated experience. A cluster analysis identifies a group of consumers who have a strong interest in arts and culture, the period of history exhibited, and some interest in religion and dark tourism is the most likely to consume this type of experience. This study presents a new model to staged authenticity and recreated historical eras as tourism experiences and provides a methodological framework to investigate consumer demand for this important form of tourism.