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E-Journal of Tourism Vol.6. No.2. (2019): 160-177 

 

http://ojs.unud.ac.id/index.php/eot  160  e-ISSN: 2407-392X.  p-ISSN: 2541-0857  

Conceptual Model for Mutual (Host-Guest) Authentication  

of Intangible Cultural Heritage 
 

Shahida Khanom
1
, Noel Scott

1
, Millicent Kennelly

2
, and Brent Moyle

3
 

 
1 
Griffith Institute of Tourism, Griffith University, QLD, Australia  

2 
Department of Tourism, Sport and Hotel Management, Griffith University, QLD, Australia 

3 
Faculty of Arts, Business and Law, University of the Sunshine Coast, QLD, Australia 

 
Corresponding author: shahida.khanom@griffithuni.edu.au 

 

 

ARTICLE INFO 

 

 
Received  

30 March 2018 

Accepted   

02 September 2019 

Available online  

30 September 2019 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

ABSTRACT 

 

The intangible cultural heritage (ICH) of indigenous communities is an 

attraction to many tourists. Authentic ICH experiences rely on the 

perceptions and actions of both the host community and guests, a topic 

which has received with limited scholarly attention, particularly in 

recent research. This paper presents a conceptual model examining 

how the mutual (host-guest) authentication of ICH (integrating the 

perceptions of both hosts and guests) can potentially lead to 

community empowerment. A literature review has identified that the 

host community‟s attitude and motivation towards ICH, their 

psychological and economic benefit from ICH, and their participation 

or involvement in the ICH, together influence the authentication of 

ICH by these communities. Similarly, a guest‟s attitude to and 

motivation for ICH as well as the way the traditional objects, events or 

environment are experienced, influence the authentication of ICH. The 

proposed mutual ICH authentication model combines the interaction of 

such host and guest factors in authentication of ICH, i.e. both the host 

community and guest should perceive the same elements as authentic 

ICH through a synthesis of their own unique perspectives. The 

perceived authenticity of ICH by the host and guest is reflected in their 

loyalty, satisfaction, and support for tourism. Further, the model 

suggests that tourism based on authentic ICH has the potential to 

empower local communities in their economic, social, psychological 

and political domains. The proposed model may be useful for future 

research defining power relations in the authentication of ICH and 

improving community-based ecotourism through community 

empowerment. 

 

Keywords: intangible cultural heritage, authenticity, mutual 

authentication, cultural tourism, community 

empowerment  

 

 

 

 



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INTRODUCTION 
 

Background 

Cultural tourism, a growing sector 

of the global tourism industry, includes 

experiencing the authentic culture of 

indigenous communities, especially the 

traditional practices, rituals, festivals and 

lifestyle which form their intangible 

cultural heritage (ICH) (Cohen, 1988; 

Moswete &Thapa, 2015; UNESCO, 

2011). Historically significant ICH such as 

festivals and religious events attract many 

tourists. For instance, the Mekong Naga 

Fireball ceremony in Thailand (Cohen, 

2007), Holy Week on the island of 

Sardinia (Giudici et al., 2013), and the 

Rush Mela festival in Bangladesh (Islam et 

al., 2018) all draw a large number of 

tourists every year. These centuries-old 

traditional festivals are associated with the 

religious beliefs of the local community 

and have a significant impact on the 

society, economy and cultural 

development of the region. These ICH 

events or experiences have become major 

tourist attractions, providing not only 

additional economic benefits to the local 

community but also revenue to the 

government (Moswete & Thapa, 2015; 

UNESCO, 2011). However, the growing 

trend of cultural tourism in developing 

countries has raised concerns about 

unsustainable tourism practices and the 

commodification of ICH (Fiorello & Bo, 

2012; Zhou et al., 2015). The 

commodification process potentially 

destroys the essential meaning and 

significance of the ICH to the local 

community and diminishes its authenticity 

(Zhou et al., 2015).  

The authenticity of ICH remains a 

critical issue in cultural tourism, as the 

ICH‟s ownership is being contested in the 

face of commodification by its 

commercialization. Clearly defining the 

authenticity of ICH, an authentication 

process embedded in ICH‟s relation to 

community empowerment would help to 

preserve ICH and reduce its 

commodification. Generally, a host 

community creates, maintains and 

transmits ICH over generations 

(UNESCO, 2011) and is, therefore, the 

primary stakeholder in its authentication.  

However, guests‟ perceptions and the role 

of institutions in such authentication are 

also vital for preserving ICH and 

developing tourism (Cohen & Cohen, 

2012; Mkono, 2013).  

The recent literature discusses 

several models for the authentication of 

ICH from either the host‟s (Zhou et al., 

2015) or the guest‟s perspectives (Cho, 

2012; Kolar & Zabkar, 2010; Zhou et al., 

2013). These models present a partial view 

of the authenticity of ICH, ignoring the 



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importance of simultaneously taking into 

account both the host‟s and the guest‟s 

perception for the authentication process. 

There is little discussion of the mutual 

(host-guest) authentication of ICH and its 

relation to community empowerment, 

although community empowerment is 

considered essential for safeguarding ICH 

(Alexander, 2009; Cole, 2007). 

  

Research Objectives 

This paper presents a critical 

review of the existing models of 

authenticating ICH and proposes a 

conceptual model for mutual (host-guest) 

authentication of ICH (integrating host and 

guest‟s perceptions) that can potentially 

lead to community empowerment. The 

proposed model would help to understand 

the relation between the mutual 

authentication of ICH and community 

empowerment, which could offer support 

for preventing the commodification of 

ICH and for enhancing the local 

community‟s role in ICH-based tourism. 

 

METHODOLOGY 

 

A review of literature was 

conducted to examine extant knowledge 

on four related key areas: the authenticity 

of ICH, existing models for the 

authentication of ICH from host or guest 

perspectives, the factors influencing the 

authenticity of ICH and ICH‟s relation to 

community empowerment. The review 

began with a keyword-based search 

(Loulanski & Loulanski, 2011) in Google 

Scholar, Science Direct, ProQuest, and 

Sage databases using the terms: 

authenticity, intangible cultural heritage, 

ICH tourism, host(s) and guest(s), 

authenticity model, and community 

empowerment. From the initial pool of 

about 200 relevant articles, 50 articles 

were identified as most relevant to the 

topic of this research. An in-depth manual 

review of these articles was carried out, 

focusing on the existing models of 

authenticating ICH from host and guest 

perspectives, factors influencing the 

authenticity of ICH and its linkage with 

tourism and community empowerment.   

 

Review of existing authentication 

models 

 

The authenticity of traditional 

objects and cultural practices has been 

crucial for providing an authentic 

experience in cultural tourism. In early 

decades of 19
th

 century, the authenticity of 

objects, which was conceptualized as 

objective authenticity – meaning the 

originality of the objects and that these 

have significance to the society from a 

historical point of view (Trilling, 1972; 



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Wang, 1999) – were considered important 

for cultural tourism. In the second half of 

the 20
th

 century, with the advent of easily 

accessible destinations through mass 

transportation by air, tourism to cultures 

different from the guests‟ own culture 

grew exponentially. Unsurprisingly, 

therefore, in the 1970s, the intangible 

cultural heritage of traditional 

communities (e.g. cultural practices, 

festivals) has attracted scholarly attention 

as issues surrounding the commodification 

of culture were identified to have the 

potential to destroy the meaning of the 

local ICH and inadvertently detract from 

the tourist experience (Greenwood, 1977). 

During the 1990s, researchers shifted 

focus to the existence of authentic ICH, 

which was conceptualized as existential 

authenticity, and its verification, 

acknowledging the need to preserve the 

value of traditional ICH (Casey, 1993).  

Various authentication processes 

have been theorized in the literature to 

define the authenticity of objects and 

traditional cultural practices. A “cool” 

authentication process is associated with 

an external expert‟s (or institution‟s) 

power to authenticate an object or event. 

Such an authentication process mainly 

focuses on the tourists‟ quest for 

authenticity. Whereas, a “hot” 

authentication process relies on the host 

community‟s beliefs about the authenticity 

of the festival or practice in which they 

engage, rather than on any scientific 

evidence of authenticity or on 

authentication by an expert outside the 

community (Cohen & Cohen, 2012). 

Traditional ICH experiences (e.g. 

festivals) demonstrate hot authenticity, as 

the community authenticates it by having 

participated in and practiced it over 

generations. The tourists (or guests) 

participating in tourism related to those 

ICH events can have an authentic 

experience of the community‟s ICH. As 

such, the guests participate in the hot 

authentication process through the 

interaction between the hosts and guests in 

ICH tourism.  

While ICH tourism leads to a close 

interaction of this type, the recent 

development of both hot and cool 

authentication processes fails to 

adequately incorporate the interaction 

between host and guest in the 

authentication process, which raises the 

issue of a mutual authentication process 

for ICH (Cohen & Cohen, 2012). 

Moreover, as the community directly 

interacts with the guests, host-guest power 

relations are important for the hot 

authentication of ICH. Hot authentication 

allows guests to have an empathic 

understanding of the rights of hosts in their 

traditional ICH. This understanding 

develops trust between the host and guest 



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and such trust also increases the 

empowerment of the community (Gnotha 

& Wang, 2015). Hosts also should 

understand that tourists from another 

society want an authentic experience of 

traditional objects and culture (Cho, 2012). 

As such, mutual interaction between the 

host and guest is necessary for the hot 

authentication of ICH. This can satisfy the 

tourist as well as empower the community. 

In the quest of theorizing the 

authentication process, several quite 

distinct authentication models have been 

developed. What unites them is that they 

have all been based either on hosts‟ or on 

guests‟ perceptions of authenticity (Cho, 

2012; Kolar & Zabkar, 2010; Zhou et al., 

2013). Kolar and Zabkar (2010) proposed 

a consumer-based model of authentication 

(Figure 1) which suggested that the 

cultural motivation of the tourists was an 

important factor for both object-based and 

existential authenticity. Such cultural 

motivation influenced tourist loyalty to 

tourist attractions. Further development of 

the Kolar and Zabkar (2010) model by 

Zhou et al. (2013) (Figure 2) suggested 

that the „attitude‟ of the tourist should be 

included in the authentication process 

along with the „motivation‟ factor. 

Interestingly. Zhou et al. (2013) found that 

this attitude, conceptualized as individual 

beliefs, interests, and understanding of 

tourism activities, has no effect on the 

motivation for visiting the ICH attractions 

and does not influence loyalty directly. 

These researchers also emphasized that the 

tourism industry‟s ignorance of traditional 

culture led the tourists to give importance 

to the aesthetics and form of the cultural 

objects or materials, rather than focusing 

on the experience of traditional culture. An 

alternative conceptual model of 

authenticity was developed by Cho (2012) 

to examine the relationship between 

tourists‟ motivation, their perceptions of 

authenticity and their satisfaction. The 

model suggests that tourists‟ motivation 

Object-based 

authenticity 

Cultural 

Motivation 

Existential 

authenticity 

Loyalty 
(to tourist attractions) 

Figure 1: Consumer-based authenticity 

model (Kolar & Zabkar, 2010) 

Figure 2: Modified consumer-based 

authenticity model (Zhou et al., 2013)  

Attitude 

Object-based 

authenticity 

Existential 

authenticity 

Loyalty 
(to tourist attractions) 

Motivation 



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affects both objective and existential 

authenticity, which, in turn, both influence 

tourist satisfaction (Cho, 2012). While 

Kolar and Zabkar‟s (2010) and Cho‟s 

(2012) models found that both forms of 

authenticity were related to motivation, 

Zhou et al. (2013) argued that motivation 

has an insignificant effect on existential 

authenticity.  

In addition to the consumer-based 

(tourists‟) authentication model, a few 

recent studies have focused on the 

authentication of tourist attractions by the 

host community. For example, Zhou et al. 

(2015) found that the hosts‟ attitude 

towards traditional cultural practices, 

together with their personal emotional and 

economic benefits from cultural tourism 

influence the process of host 

authentication as these factors affect both 

objective and existential authenticity. The 

hosts‟ attitude is directly influenced by the 

personal emotional benefits, whereas the 

personal economic benefits are indirect 

and hidden from any obvious position in 

the hosts‟ support of tourism. As such, the 

hosts‟ personal emotional benefits from 

practicing and sharing the culture with the 

guest through tourism enhance the 

cohesion and identity of the hosts‟ culture, 

which leads to a psychological 

empowerment of the host community. The 

economic benefits to the hosts from 

tourism lead to an economic 

empowerment of the community (Zhou et 

al., 2015). A similar observation was made 

by Boley et al. (2014) who concluded that 

personal economic benefits and 

psychological empowerment have direct 

and positive effects on the hosts‟ support 

for tourism. However, both Boley et al. 

(2014) and Zhou et al. (2015) did not 

consider the social and political 

dimensions of community empowerment 

in relation to ICH‟s objective and 

existential authenticity as well as the 

implications of these dimensions for the 

hosts‟ support for tourism.   

The above-discussed authentication 

models have mainly focused on tourists‟ 

behavior and partially on community 

empowerment (in terms of psychological 

and economic empowerment, two of the 

four identified dimensions of community 

empowerment (Di Castri, 2004; 

Scheyvens, 1999)) to verify the 

authenticity of cultural experiences 

according to the views of either hosts or 

guests (Cho, 2012; Kolar & Zabkar, 2010; 

Zhou et al., 2013; Zhou et al., 2015). 

However, these studies are limited by the 

use of quantitative approaches with 

structural equation modeling used to 

assess authenticity. This quantitative 

modeling approach is helpful for 

examining relationships between variables. 

However, perhaps, each concept 

embedded within these models should be 



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investigated thoroughly using inductive 

qualitative methods (Kolar & Zabkar, 

2010; Zhou et al., 2013; Zhou et al., 2015). 

Further, the current models of ICH 

authentication consider the guest (tourist) 

and host (community) perspectives 

separately, which can provide only a 

partial view. These ICH authentication 

processes do not directly take into account 

the linkages between the host and guest, 

nor the understandings common to both 

groups and the connection of this to 

community empowerment. A lack of 

adequate interaction between hosts and 

tourists can lessen the authentic experience 

for the tourist as well as curb benefits to 

the host community and impact host 

empowerment (Cho, 2012; Zhou et al., 

2015).  

Therefore, direct interaction 

between hosts and guests can improve the 

mutual authentication of tourist attractions 

as well as develop trust between hosts and 

guests in order to enhance host 

empowerment (Moyle et al., 2010; Zhu, 

2012). For ICH authentication, a mutual 

(host-guest) authentication model would 

be necessary to examine the linkages 

between host and guest and their influence 

on community empowerment. 

 

Conceptual model for mutual (host-

guest) authentication of ICH 

 

Overview of the mutual (host-guest) 

authentication model 

Considering the limitations of the 

current authentication models, a new 

model is conceptualized for the mutual 

(host-guest) authentication of ICH which 

incorporates both hosts‟ and guests‟ 

perspectives of authenticity (Fig. 4). This 

model also shows the linkage of 

authentication to satisfaction, loyalty and 

support for tourism development as well as 

the linkage to enhance community 

empowerment. The model takes into 

account both objective and existential 

authenticity. Objective authenticity is 

covered by the authentication of the 

objects that are culturally significant to the 

community such as architectural 

structures, artifacts or similar physical 

elements used for performing cultural 

practices. The physical objects used in 

performing the cultural events or in the 

daily lifestyle of the community are the 

Figure 3: Host authenticity model  

(Zhou et al., 2015) 

Hosts‟ 

economic 
benefit from 

tourism 

 

Object-based 

authenticity 

Existential 

authenticity 

Support for 

tourism 

Hosts‟ 
emotional 

benefit from 

tourism 
 from 

Hosts‟ attitude 

towards 
traditional 

culture 



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elements that determine the objective 

authenticity of the community‟s ICH 

(Asplet & Cooper, 2000). The existential 

authenticity of ICH is covered by the 

authentication of the existence of cultural 

traditional practices such as festivals and 

religious rituals performed by the 

community. The traditional cultural 

practices, religious and social customs, 

and the way the community perform the 

events which define its community‟s 

unique identity, together determine the 

existential authenticity of the ICH (Zhou et 

al., 2015).  Perceptions of both the hosts 

(i.e., the local community) and the guests 

(i.e., tourists) would be considered for the 

mutual authentication of ICH. 

This model comprises several 

factors related to the perceptions of hosts 

and guests that can influence ICH 

authenticity. The hosts‟ factors include 

their attitude and motivation towards ICH, 

economic and psychological benefits, and 

participation in cultural practices, 

individually and through institutions. The 

guests‟ factors include their attitude 

towards ICH, motivation to experience 

ICH, and finding authentic objects or 

experiences of events. The mutual (host-

guest) authentication of ICH would 

ultimately reinforce the loyalty, 

satisfaction and support for ICH tourism as 

well as enhancing community 

empowerment. The host and guest factors 

influencing the authenticity of ICH and 

linkages to tourism development and 

community empowerment are further 

illustrated in the following sections. 

 

 

 

 

Authenticity of Intangible Cultural 

Heritage (ICH) 

Authenticity of 
objects of cultural 

significance 

(objective 

authenticity)  

Authenticity of 
cultural 

practices 

(Existential 

authenticity) 

Loyalty/ satisfaction and 

support for tourism 

 

Community empowerment 

 Economic empowerment           Psychological empowerment 

 Social empowerment                  Political empowerment 

Guest factors 

 Attitude 

 Motivation 

 Finding authentic object 

 Finding authentic 

experience of event or 

environment 

Host factors 

 Attitude 

 Motivation 

 Economic benefit 

 Psychological benefit 

 Individual participation  

 Institutional participation 

Figure 4: A model for mutual (host-guest) authentication of ICH 



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Host community factors influencing the 

authenticity of ICH 

 

Hosts’ attitude: Attitudes are 

important for explaining and predicting 

perceptions and behavior. Generally, 

attitudes are a type of social knowledge 

consisting of experiences, beliefs, and 

feelings (Zanna and Rempel, 2008). As an 

enduring predisposition towards a 

particular aspect of one‟s environment, 

attitudes consist of either a two or three 

component response to an object or event: 

cognitive (beliefs, knowledge, 

perceptions); affective (likes and dislikes); 

and behavioral (the instinct to act) 

(Subramaniam and Silverman, 2007). 

One‟s attitude can be inferred directly 

from one‟s behavior; living a traditional 

lifestyle indicates the attitude of a 

willingness to do so. In the context of this 

authentication model, such an attitude 

comprises one‟s level of understanding of 

traditional culture and the degree of 

preference for it.  

Hosts‟ attitudes towards traditional 

culture include their emotion, cognition, 

and behavior concerning traditional life, 

the local religion, and modern civilization. 

Hosts‟ attitude towards traditional culture 

plays a role in the ICH authentication 

process because their attitude to the 

objects of cultural significance and to the 

traditional cultural practices reflects how 

they define both the objective and 

existential authenticity of ICH. Earlier 

models of host authentication (e.g. Zhou et 

al., 2015) did not explicitly include the 

host‟s attitude as a variable, whereas 

authenticity models based on tourist 

perceptions (e.g. Kolar & Zabkar, 2010) 

include tourists‟ attitude as one of the 

prime factors.  

In the proposed mutual 

authentication model, we consider the 

hosts‟ attitude to their ICH should be an 

essential determinant of the authenticity of 

this instance of ICH, and we compare this 

with the guests‟ attitude to the same ICH 

phenomena. Hosts‟ attitude to the ICH 

could be measured by ascertaining their 

belief and willingness to carry forward the 

traditional ICH elements to future 

generations. Thus, hosts‟ positive attitude 

would show their feeling towards 

traditional ownership of the ICH and 

reflect its authenticity.  

 

Hosts’ motivation: Hosts‟ 

motivation to practice traditional culture is 

important to determine their perception of 

ICH. Hosts‟ motivation for ICH can be 

classified into two categories: general 

motivation and intentional motivation. The 

general motivation of the host community 

to perform their cultural practices could be 

to follow the tradition of the community 



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they live in (Yoon & Uysal, 2005). The 

intentional motivation of the host‟s 

community could be linked to religious 

belief, economic benefit, and socio-

political benefits from practicing the 

cultural traditions (McIntosh & Prentice, 

1999). For instance, hosts can be 

motivated to participate in a traditional 

festival to perform religious rituals. The 

motivation of some hosts may be to sell 

products at the festival. Therefore, the 

motivation of the hosts‟ community is an 

important determinant of the authenticity 

of ICH from the hosts‟ perspective. A 

strong positive motivation of the host 

community would tend to reflect a strong 

perception of the ICH‟s authenticity. 

Although earlier consumer-based 

authenticity models (e.g. Kolar & Zabkar, 

2010) considered the motivation of the 

guests as a crucial factor influencing ICH 

authenticity, host-based authenticity 

models (e.g. Zhou et al., 2015) have not 

included the hosts‟ motivation as a factor 

in authentication. The hosts‟ motivation is 

included as a factor in the mutual 

authentication model to reflect the 

influence of the hosts‟ motivation as being 

as valuable as the guests‟ motivation.  

 

Hosts’ economic benefit from 

ICH: Hosts‟ economic activities related to 

traditional ICH events festivals may 

include selling handicrafts, foods, and 

other –tourism experiences which provide 

economic benefits to them. Traditional 

cultural events or festivals organized 

regularly for many years can give seasonal 

livelihood opportunities to some group or 

groups within the host community. 

Regular economic activities surrounding 

the ICH can increase hosts‟ attachment to 

the ICH event and to ICH itself. Zhou et 

al. (2015) found that economic benefit 

does not directly affect the objective and 

existential authenticity while emotional 

benefit does. Economic benefits from ICH 

affect hosts‟ attitude and emotional 

benefits; therefore, economic benefits 

indirectly affect both objective and 

existential authenticity. When hosts are 

dissatisfied with the economic benefits of 

an ICH experience, they vent with 

negative emotions and evaluate its 

authenticity by belittling it. By contrast, 

their positive moods and emotions lead to 

overestimating authenticity to be higher 

than the objective level. Although 

sometimes hosts do not explicitly express 

it, they are very concerned about the 

promotion of local culture for local 

economic development and to increase 

their income (Chhabra, 2010). To some 

extent, to escape poverty or become 

wealthy, they unconsciously accept a 

certain degree of sacrifice of the 

authenticity of local culture. It is 

unrealistic to talk about protecting and 



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inheriting tradition if economic benefits 

cannot be guaranteed (Yang et al., 2013). 

In view of the above contexts, hosts‟ 

economic benefit from ICH is taken into 

account in the mutual ICH authentication 

model. 

  

Psychological benefit: The host 

community can have psychological or 

emotional benefit by performing 

traditional cultural expressions (Besculides 

et al., 2002). For example, hosts can have 

mental peace and satisfaction by engaging 

in rituals in a traditional religious festival 

or meeting friends and families at the 

cultural event or enjoying the cultural 

programmes. They can also feel proud or 

satisfied by showcasing their traditional 

culture to tourists (Besculides et al., 2002). 

Cole (2007) found that locals are proud 

that their villages are considered part of 

the national heritage and that they like 

tourists because tourism provides 

entertainment, friends from the outside 

world and outside information. ICH-based 

tourism brings the villagers confidence 

and dignity in their beliefs.  Thus, personal 

emotional benefit is the crucial factor for 

the authentication of ICH by the hosts. 

 

Individual participation: The 

individual participation of a host in 

traditional cultural practices shows his/ her 

devotion to being attached to their own 

community and culture. According to 

Teodori and Luloff (1998), community 

involvement, including support for a 

festival, is an important factor in 

predicting the strength of a person‟s 

attachment to a community or place. 

Studies have shown that recognizing 

people‟s attachment to a place influences 

their sense of stewardship and perception 

of authenticity in a destination (Greene, 

1996). Individuals‟ affective relationship 

with the landscape or material 

environment may express their perception 

of the existential authenticity of ICH 

(Tuan, 1974). An emotional attachment to 

the natural landscape and the built 

environment and shared memories of 

communal heritage allow individuals to 

come together for formal or spontaneous 

interactions like festivals and community 

and cultural events. The individual 

perception of authenticity ensures the 

collective identity of the ICH. Therefore, 

hosts‟ individual participation in practicing 

their ICH is taken as an important factor 

that influences its authenticity. 

 

Institutional participation: ICH 

can act as the heart of a community 

(Wheatley and Kellner-Rogers, 1998, 

p.14) as its intrinsic nature provides 

residents with conditions of freedom and 

connectedness rather than a fixation on the 

community‟s forms and structure. 



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Community institutions managing the ICH 

can provide a sense of its importance to 

the community. A formal community 

organization structure based on the 

common interest of the community 

provides an opportunity to nurture 

traditional culture over generations and 

preserve it for the future. The community 

institutions can even promote the cultural 

events to the larger society, involving 

political power and recognition by the 

state (del Barrio, Devesa and Herrero, 

2012). Hosts‟ participation in the 

community institutions for managing ICH 

would show how the host recognizes the 

ICH‟s value of and how the host perceives 

the authenticity of this ICH. Thus, this 

host factor is included in the mutual 

authentication model.  

 

Guest/ tourist factors influencing the 

authenticity of ICH 

 

Guests’ attitude: The guests‟ 

attitude towards the traditional culture, 

expressed by authentic objects or the 

existence of genuine cultural events, can 

contribute to the authenticity of the ICH. 

Attitude is generally evaluated on the 

long-term activities including cognitive, 

affective and behavioral responses. 

Attitudes predispose a person to act or 

perform in a certain manner based on his/ 

her cognitive and affective evaluation 

while engaging in ICH activities. Thus, the 

attitude to ICH is particularly 

demonstrated by the degree of attention to 

particular objects or experiences and a 

deeper level of understanding of the ICH, 

including the historical and cultural 

background. Tourists are influenced by 

their emotions which stimulate their 

perception through interaction with the 

host. This is particularly evident in the 

case of a festival when the tourist 

perceives high existential authenticity, for 

example in a worshipping ceremony. 

When a tourist feels affection for the host 

community they feel more enthusiastic to 

acquire more knowledge of the historical 

and cultural background of the place to 

fulfill their need for authentic experience. 

The tourist who has a positive cognition 

tends to perceive existential authenticity 

more profoundly. As such, like the earlier 

consumer-based authenticity models (e.g. 

Zhou et al., 2013), guests‟ attitude is 

considered in the mutual authentication 

model.  

 

Guests’ motivation: Motivation is 

an important psychological factor that 

influences tourist perceptions of the 

objective and existential authenticity of 

ICH, which, in turn, affects tourists‟ 

expectations (Gnoth, 1997). Tourist 

motivation is the primary driver to 

interpret tourist behavior in participating 



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in ICH activities. The motivation to visit 

ICH locations has been grouped into 

several aspects, of which some are quite 

similar to each other: mental relaxation, 

engagement with a calm atmosphere, 

discovering new places and things, gaining 

knowledge, having a good time with 

friends, having a religious motivation, 

visiting cultural and historical attractions 

and having an interest in history (Lee, 

2009). Tourists perceive high objective 

and existential authenticity when they 

undertake ICH experiences which have a 

long history and many historical 

attractions including a deep cultural 

connotation. This is because tourists‟ 

historical and cultural motives are usually 

linked to perceptions of highly authentic 

value.  The perception of the authenticity 

of ICH influences tourist loyalty to revisit 

the location or event. In the previous 

consumer-based authenticity models (e.g. 

Kolar & Zabkar, 2010; Zhou et al., 2013), 

motivation was considered a major factor 

influencing the objective and existential 

authenticity of tourist attractions. 

Likewise, we view guests‟ motivation to 

be a significant factor in the mutual 

authentication model. 

 

Finding authentic objects: While 

guests‟ attitude and motivation are 

important to making themselves 

participate in ICH tourism, guests‟ 

perceptions about the objects they see and 

the cultural events they enjoy during the 

visit are important as well. The objects 

associated with the cultural events (e.g. 

special design of the statues used for 

worship in religious festivals, the taste and 

quality of local foods, the design and 

making of local crafts) represent the 

identity of the particular ICH (UNESCO, 

2011). Tourists, being outsiders, can 

perceive the uniqueness of the objects 

based on their knowledge of objects and 

products from other areas and information 

from other sources (Oh, 2005). When 

visiting ICH sites, they want to experience 

the local food and purchase locally made 

craft. This is particularly evident in a 

traditional festival when they get closer to 

the host, for instance, when the guests eat 

local food together with the community. 

Tourists also want to buy the local 

costumes which can simulate an authentic 

experience of this object by wearing them. 

If the tourists find any unique object 

during their ICH experience, this would 

influence their perception of its 

authenticity (Chhabra et al., 2003). 

Through finding authentic objects, guests 

can deeply connect to the hosts who are 

involved with making or providing these 

objects. This reinforces their belief in the 

objective authenticity of this ICH. 

Therefore, this guest factor is included in 

the mutual authentication model. 



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Finding authentic experiences or 

events: During ICH tourism, tourists find 

unique psychological and spiritual 

attachment and feeling when participating 

in cultural practices (Richards, 2018). At a 

destination which has both cultural and 

natural attributes (Esfehani and Albrecht, 

2018), the experience of ICH can be 

presented in a special arrangement of 

events like cultural programs, celebrations, 

connections with the cultural history and 

natural features and unique religious and 

spiritual experiences in a calm and 

peaceful atmosphere. If the tourists find 

any unique cultural and natural 

experiences or events that satisfy them as 

authentic, then that experience would 

influence their perception of authenticity 

of its ICH. This guest factor is included in 

the mutual authentication model because it 

would help to determine tourists‟ 

perception of the existential authenticity of 

ICH. 

 

Mutual authentication of ICH and its 

relation to tourism development and 

community empowerment 

 

In the mutual authentication 

process, the common perceptions of the 

hosts and guests about the authenticity of 

ICH would be determined through the 

influence of host and guest factors. While 

there might be some differences between 

hosts‟ and guests‟ attitude and motivation 

concerning the community‟s ICH, the 

close interaction of hosts and guests 

through tourism would fill the gaps. Host 

communities can showcase historical 

objects or sell unique traditional crafts to 

the tourists, labeling these as authentic. As 

well, a guest can identify some of those 

objects or products as authentic, based on 

their own knowledge and experience. 

Similarly, the cultural events practiced by 

the hosts or enjoyed by the guests can be 

distinguished as unique by both hosts and 

guests. The objects and cultural practices 

recognized by hosts and guest as unique 

and representative of the local community 

would be defined as authentic ICH.  

Since hosts and guests participate 

in the mutual authentication process while 

interacting through ICH tourism, 

authentication of ICH by the hosts or the 

guests will influence their support for 

tourism or their satisfaction and loyalty to 

tourism, respectively. Hosts‟ strong belief 

in their ICH‟s authenticity would 

encourage them to provide support for 

tourism through personal or institutional 

involvement (Zhou et al., 2015). Likewise, 

the guests would have a high level of 

satisfaction when experiencing authentic 

ICH and loyalty to the ICH attractions, 

showing a willingness to revisit the 

destination and recommend it to others 

(Kolar & Zabkar, 2010; Zhou et al., 2013).  



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The mutual authentication of ICH 

will ultimately impact community 

empowerment through tourism. Economic 

benefit from ICH-based tourism (selling 

traditional crafts, food, and 

accommodation for tourists) will enhance 

the economic empowerment of the 

community. The guests also make a major 

economic contribution to valuing the 

traditional authentic objects and events, in 

compensation for satisfying their touristic 

consumption of the ICH. Similarly, the 

psychological empowerment of the 

community will be enhanced by owning 

the authentic ICH (objects and traditional 

practices) and positioning themselves as a 

unique community in the global society. 

Participating in the authentic traditional 

cultural practices individually or as a 

group can increase social cohesion and 

shared feelings, enhancing the social 

empowerment of the community. 

Everyone in the community can recognize 

their own identity with respect to their 

authentic ICH. Further, local institutions 

and leadership can be developed for 

managing ICH (e.g. organizing traditional 

cultural events, managing historical 

objects), which ensures the political 

empowerment of the community.  

 

 

 

CONCLUSION AND 

RECOMMENDATIONS 

 

The authenticity of ICH has been a 

major concern in ICH-based tourism 

development to preserve and sustain it in 

the face of commodification due to the 

influence of modern socio-economic 

changes. In the search for an appropriate 

authentication approach, various models 

have been proposed in the recent literature 

for evaluating the authenticity of tourist 

attractions including ICH based on host 

and guest perspectives, for instance, the 

consumer-based authentication model 

(Cho, 2012; Kolar & Zabkar, 2010; Zhou 

et al., 2013) and the host authentication 

model (Zhou et al., 2013). These models 

consider hosts‟ and guests‟ perspectives 

separately without showing the influence 

of their mutual perceptions on the 

authentication of ICH. Nor do these 

models take into account how the 

authenticity of ICH is linked to community 

empowerment.  

This study proposes a conceptual 

model of mutual (host-guest) 

authentication of ICH, which can integrate 

both hosts‟ and guests‟ perspectives in the 

authentication process and can be related 

to community empowerment.  The model 

includes several factors: hosts‟ attitude and 

motivation towards ICH, their 

psychological and economic benefit from 



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ICH, and their participation or 

involvement in the ICH, which can 

influence its authentication by host 

communities. Also, the guests‟ attitude 

and motivation concerning ICH as well as 

the hosts‟ experience of the traditional 

objects, events and/or environment are 

considered as factors that influence the 

authentication of ICH by the guests.  

The conceptual model emphasizes 

power relationships between host and 

guest and combines their perspectives in 

the authentication process. The model 

suggests that tourism based on authentic 

ICH influences community empowerment 

across the political, social, psychological 

and economic domains. This model may 

be useful for understanding power 

relations in the authentication of ICH and 

improving sustainable tourism through 

community empowerment. Further 

investigation is required to confirm the 

application of the conceptual model in 

various contexts of ICH-based tourism and 

other tourist attractions. The model can be 

further developed incorporating other 

stakeholders, including government and 

tour operators, to ensure the sustainable 

management of ICH, tourism development 

and community empowerment. 

 

 

 

 

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