Genres of heritage authenticity: Denotations from a Pilgrimage Landscape

Whilst several tourism scholars have deconstructed the notion of authenticity on heritage environments either from a theoretical or empirical perspective, few, if any, have undertaken a close look at Pine and Gilmore’s (2007) genres of authenticity, namely natural, original, exceptional, referential, and influential. It is the aim of this study to overcome past research negligence by rendering the appeal of the five genres of authenticity in the case of Mount Athos, a religious heritage, or in other words, pilgrimage landscape located in northern Greece, which can be considered as the last surviving byzantine complex of monasteries. Based on the findings of the study, this paper links the five genres of authenticity with past research on pilgrimage experience.

► All five genres of authenticity apply to Mount Athos.
► Some components fall into different genres.
► The five genres of authenticity are interrelated with each other.
► The five genres are pertinent to the study of authentic pilgrimage experience.