Authenticity as an Antecedent of the Tourist Experience in Measuring the Gap Between Tourist Experiences at an Accommodation Establishment and a Tourist Attraction in Lesotho

Authenticity has been a key concept in the description of the genuineness and realness of various cultural heritages, making it very important for the success of cultural festivals and events. Tourists seek authentic experience through engaging in meaningful conversation with indigenous people, thus experiencing the real lives of other people in a geographic area different from their own. Tourists seek out authentic and unique experiences that motivate them to explore cultural events that are new to them, and authenticity is usually a measure of their perception of the genuineness of tourism attractions and experiences. Authenticity refers to the quality of the experience relevant to those who seek it. The purpose of this paper is to explore whether authenticity can be applied as an antecedent of the tourist experience in measuring the gap between tourist experiences at an accommodation establishment and a tourist attraction in Lesotho. The researchers adopted qualitative content analysis, following content-logical guidelines and step-by-step paradigms before providing qualification in the form of tables. By utilising qualitative content analysis as a methodological approach the researchers followed a positivist epistemology, as it is considered to be objective in its utilisation to reveal true findings. The findings from 96 peer-reviewed published research reports (ScienceDirect Elsevier and Scopus, but excluding research methodology reports) show the dimensions local culture, involvement, meaningfulness, and social interaction to be the most appropriate for measuring authenticity. Furthermore, authenticity can be applied as an antecedent of the tourist experience in measuring the gap between tourist experiences at accommodation establishments and tourist attractions in Lesotho.