Cultivating Relationship With Tourists: Role of Public Relations in Constructing and Promoting Authentic Experiences

This study examined the role of public relations in communicating authentic experiences to cultivate long-term relationships with tourists. Focus group and interviews were conducted with 11 public relations practitioners of a cultural and eco-archaeological theme park in Mexico to understand their role and responsibilities in developing and promoting the park’s image that fosters perceptions of an authentic tourism experience. Additionally, the study analyzed survey data collected from 545 tourists to evaluate their attitudes and opinions about the park’s image and authenticity. Variations in perceived authenticity with demographics, visit characteristics, and information sources were also examined. Findings revealed that a destination’s image is a significant predictor of its perceived authenticity, which in turn positively influences visitors’ trust, satisfaction, and commitment with the destination. In the global experience economy, authenticity has emerged as an important construct for organizations and the field of public relations (Debreceny, 2010; Henderson & Edwards, 2010; Molleda, 2010a, 2010b; Molleda & Jain, 2013a, 2013b). With the increasing commoditization of goods and services, experiences have become a key economic offering that organizations are actively designing and promoting in an attempt to look authentic (Gilmore & Pine, 2007). And as Molleda (2010a, 2010b) argued, public relations has a key role to perform in helping organizations create platforms that yield such authentic experiences. As a consequence, authenticity has become a vital construct for the research and practice of public relations in the tourism sector (Knudsen & Waade, 2010; Molleda & Jain, 2013a; Ramkissoon & Uysal, 2011). MacCannell (1973, 1976) argued that the primary motivation behind tourism visits is a quest for authentic experiences; tourists visit places that they believe have social, historic, and cultural importance. In a tourism setting, authenticity refers to tourists’ personal evaluation of the extent to which their expectations from a destination hold true during a visit (Ramkissoon & Uysal, 2011). Public relations practitioners can help destinations convey the central ideas or experiences that tourists can expect at the destination to enhance its authenticity. And yet, authenticity remains an under-researched and under-developed construct in Jain Cultivating Relationship With Tourists Public Relations Journal, Vol. 8, No. 4 (Winter 2014) 2 public relations scholarship, even when it has been extensively examined by other communication disciplines such as marketing and advertising. In general, the construct lacks theory building studies and empirical evidence in the context of public relations. As a consequence, authenticity is associated with multiple definitions, conceptualizations, and perspectives making it difficult for destinations, planners, and policymakers to integrate it in their tourism promotion programs and messages. Therefore, this study examined the ways in which a destination can offer authentic experiences to its visitors strengthening their trust, satisfaction, and long-term commitment with the destination. The study developed a measurement scale for authenticity and evaluated the construct’s linkages with a destination’s image and its relationship with visitors. In this manner, this study advanced theory building in an emerging area in public relations. Examining the relationship among these constructs can reveal useful insights to destinations and their public relations practitioners. The study identified key attributes that destinations should promote in their public relations messages to enhance their perceived authenticity and ultimately, generate positive word-of-mouth. The value of this study is also in providing empirical evidence of effectiveness of public relations in tourism promotion, an important area for both scholars and practitioners (Choi & Cai, 2012). This is among the first studies that empirically examined the tangible relational indicators of what public relations can achieve by their activities and the degree to which their efforts add value to the destinations they represent. The empirical examination was conducted by gathering qualitative and quantitative feedback from the public relations practitioners and visitors of a cultural and eco-archaeological theme park in Mexico. Measurement and evaluation are important issues in public relations (Hon & Grunig, 1999; Yang, 2007) and this study contributed to this research stream by operationalizing and quantifying the linkages among a destination’s image, perceived authenticity, and its relationship with visitors.