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The Role of Authenticity in Lesotho Cultural Tourism: a Study of Thaba Bosiu and Morija

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The Role of Authenticity in Lesotho Cultural Tourism: a Study of Thaba Bosiu and Morija COPYRIGHT AND CITATION CONSIDERATIONS FOR THIS THESIS/ DISSERTATION o Attribution — You must give appropriate credit, provide a link to the license, and indicate if changes were made. You may do so in any reasonable manner, but not in any way that suggests the licensor endorses you or your use. o NonCommercial — You may not use the material for commercial purposes. o ShareAlike — If you remix, transform, or build upon the material, you must distribute your contributions under the same license as the original. How to cite this thesis Surname, Initial(s). (2012) Title of the thesis or dissertation. PhD. (Chemistry)/ M.Sc. (Physics)/ M.A. (Philosophy)/M.Com. (Finance) etc. [Unpublished]: University of Johannesburg. Retrieved from: https://ujcontent.uj.ac.za/vital/access/manager/Index?site_name=Research%20Output (Accessed: Date). The role of authenticity in Lesotho cultural tourism: a study of Thaba Bosiu and Morija by NGONIDZASHE MAKWINDI A dissertation submitted in fulfillment for the Degree of Masters in Tourism and Hospitality Management School of Tourism and Hospitality Management Faculty of Management UNIVERSITY OF JOHANNESBURG Supervisor: Dr. Milena Ivanovic 2016 DECLARATION I certify that the dissertation submitted by me for the degree Masters in Tourism and Hospitality Management at the University of Johannesburg is my independent work and has not been submitted by me for a degree at another university. NGONIDZASHE MAKWINDI ii This dissertation is dedicated to my wife Eunice Makwindi and my late mother Mrs Munyadzi Rebecca Makwindi for their untiring support in my education. iii I would like to thank the following: Dr. Ivanovic Milena for being my supervisor and for her amazing guidance. Mr. Kimpton Musonza for his wonderful assistance in the use of SPSS. And my family for their unconditional moral support. iv The research question for this study is: What is the role of authenticity in Lesotho tourism, in particular Thaba Bosiu and Morija cultural sites? The concept of authenticity basically refers to something genuine, original and historically accurate. The two selected sites are the most venerated ones in Lesotho. Thaba Bosiu is a national monument which epitomizes the history of the Basotho nation while Morija is a venue for the annual arts and cultural festival. It is also the only place in Lesotho with a museum and archives among other cultural attractions. The study seeks to explore for a correlation between authentic appearance of attractions and the attention tourists pay to the attractions. It also explores a difference in perception of authenticity between international and domestic tourists as well as a correlation between objective and constructive authenticity for each site. The study also drew conclusions and made recommendations regarding the role of authenticity in Lesotho cultural tourism. The reason for the study emanated from a claim that Lesotho tourism was not being “real” yet its slogan reads: “Real People, Real Mountains and Real Culture.” The other reason is that there is an “apparent research deficiency into the nature of tourism experiences” at Lesotho cultural sites. It is against this background that the researcher explored the role of authenticity at Lesotho cultural sites. The research adopted an exploratory design with a deductive approach using the quantitative methodology. The study used a self-administered questionnaire for data collection based on non-probability sampling strategy and the convenience sampling method. The data was collected concurrently from 1 September 2015 to 30 October 2015 at Thaba Bosiu and Morija cultural heritage sites including during the most famous Lesotho‟s traditional festival, Morija arts and cultural festival. Of the total 386 questionnaires collected at Thaba Bosiu and Morija, 123 and 135 domestic and 68 and 60 international tourists completed the questionnaires respectively. v Parametric and nonparametric tests were conducted to test the hypothesis. Even though item analysis on appearance scores revealed that 64% of tourists visiting Morija agreed that Morija is an authentic site, a surprising 27% complained of poor management of the Morija festival and inauthenticity. At Thaba Bosiu, 55% of tourists visiting the site strongly agreed that the cultural village is authentic while almost half (46%) complained of lack of authenticity at the site. The following tests were conducted to test the hypothesis: Spearman‟s (rs) and Pearson‟s (r) correlation coefficient tests, Mann-Whitney U and t-test. The tests revealed that both cultural sites had some problems of authenticity and the difference in perception of authenticity between domestic and international tourists varies according to the place under study. The study also revealed the critical role of authenticity at cultural sites. The major recommendations for Thaba Bosiu were that the site management should bring cultural activities and other elements, a wide variety of interpretive media and more meaningful labels in the cultural village and on the plateau. The key recommendations for Morija were that the site management should establish interpretation centres at strategic points, involve all stakeholders in the management of site and festival, introduce more cultural events and hire a consultant and review the strategic plan. Key words: cultural tourism, heritage tourism, authenticity, traditional festival, Thaba Bosiu, Morija, Lesotho vi TABLE OF CONTENTS LIST OF TABLES……………………………………………………………………. xii LIST OF FIGURES………………………………………………………………….. xiv LIST OF ACRONYMS………………………………………………………………. xvi CHAPTER 1: INTRODUCTION, PROBLEM STATEMENT AND METHOD OF RESEARCH 1.1 INTRODUCTION………………………………………………………………. 1 1.2 PROBLEM STATEMENT……………………………………………………... 8 1.3 GOAL AND OBJECTIVES OF THE STUDY……………………………….. 9 1.3.1 Goal………………………………………………………………………… 9 1.3.2 Objectives………………………………………………………………….. 9 1.4 METHOD OF RESEARCH……………………………………………………. 10 1.4.1 Literature study…………………………………………………………….. 10 1.4.2 Empirical study……………………………………………………………… 11 1.4.2.1 Site selection………………………………………………………… 11 1.4.2.1.1 Morija cultural site.................................................................... 11 1.4.2.1.2 Thaba Bosiu cultural site………………………………………… 16 1.4.2.2 Data analysis……………………………………………………….. 22 1.5 DEFINITION OF KEY CONCEPTS………………………………………… 23 1.5.1 Culture……………………………………………………………………… 23 1.5.2 Cultural tourism…………………………………………………………. 23 1.5.3 Heritage……………………………………………………………………. 23 1.5.4 Heritage tourism………………………………………………………….. 23 1.5.5 Authenticity………………………………………………………………… 24 1.5.5.1 Objective authenticity………………………………………………. 24 1.5.5.2 Constructive authenticity………………………………………….. 24 1.5.5.3 Existential authenticity…………………………………………….. 24 1.6 CHAPTER CLASSIFICATION…………………………………………………. 24 1.7 CONCLUSION…………………………………………………………………… 25 vii CHAPTER 2: LITERATURE REVIEW 2.1 INTRODUCTION………………………………………………………………… 26 2.2 UNPACKING THE CONCEPT OF AUTHENTICITY………………………... 27 2.3 OBJECTIVE AUTHENTICITY OF CULTURAL HERITAGE SITES…… …. 31 2.4 TOURIST PERCEPTIONS OF AUTHENTICITY……………………………. 34 2.5 AUTHENTICITY OF TOURIST EXPERIENCES……………………………. 39 2.6 CONCLUSION………………………………………………………………. … 45 CHAPTER 3: RESEARCH DESIGN AND METHODOLOGY 3.1 INTRODUCTION…………………………………………………………….. …. 47 3.2 RESEARCH DESIGN……………………………………………………….. …. 47 3.2.1 Exploratory research design……………………………………………… 48 3.2.2 Survey design……………………………………………………………… 50 3.2.2.1 Time frame and survey interviewers……………………………… 51 3.2.2.2 Survey procedures…………………………………………………. 51 3.2.2.3 Survey instrument………………………………………………….. 53 3.3 RESEARCH METHODOLOGY………………………………………….......... 54 3.3.1 Sampling strategy and sampling frame………………………………… 54 3.3.2 Sampling method…………………………………………………………. 55 3.4 DEVELOPMENT OF THE QUESTIONNAIRE………………………………. 56 3.4.1 Structure of the questionnaire…………………………………………… 56 3.4.2 Operationalization of the constructs……………………………………. 57 3.4.2.1 Operationalization of objective authenticity…………………….. 57 3.4.2.2 Operationalization of constructive authenticity…………………. 58 3.4.3 Scales of measurement………………………………………………….. 59 3.5 CONCLUSION…………………………………………………………………… 60 CHAPTER 4: DESCRIPTIVE AND UNIVARIENT DATA ANALYISIS AND DISCUSSION OF RESULTS 4.1 INTRODUCTION………………………………………………………………… 62 viii 4.2 DEMOGRAPHIC BACKGROUND OF TOURISTS VISITING THABA BOSIU AND MORIJA……………………………………………………………………… 63 4.2.1 Gender…………………………………………………………………….. 63 4.2.2 Age…………………………………………………………………………. 64 4.2.3 Place of origin…………………………………………………………….. 65 4.2.4 Education………………………………………………………………….. 67 4.3 PRIMARY MOTIVATION FOR TOURISTS VISITING LESOTHO………… 69 4.3.1 Reasons for visiting Lesotho…………………………………………….. 71 4.3.2 Reasons for visiting the sites……………………………………………. 71 4.3.2.1 Reasons for visiting Thaba Bosiu………………………………… 71 4.3.2.2 Reasons for visiting Morija………………………………………... 72 4.4 AUTHENTIC APPEARANCE, TOURIST ATTENTION AND EXPERIENCE AT THABA BOSIU AND MORIJA…………………………………………………….. 72 4.4.1 Authentic appearance of Thaba Bosiu and Morija……………………. 72 4.4.1.1 Authentic appearance of Thaba Bosiu………………………….. 72 4.4.1.2 Authentic appearance of Morija…………………………………. 73 4.4.2 Attention tourists pay to Thaba Bosiu and Morija…………………….. 74 4.4.2.1 Attention tourists pay to Thaba Bosiu…………………………… 74 4.4.2.2 Attention tourists pay to Morija…………………………………… 74 4.4.3 Authenticity of tourists‟ experience at Thaba Bosiu and Morija……… 75 4.4.3.1 Authenticity of tourists‟ experiences at Thaba Bosiu…………… 75 4.4.3.2 Authenticity of tourists‟ experiences at Morija…………………… 76 4.4.4 Standard Deviation (SD) and Mean (M)
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