In the section of our readings for tourism geography involving experiencing attractions and perceptions of attractions (a major approach to studying tourist attractions), I found the ‘outsideness’ and ‘insideness’ a little bit troubling because, as our readings stated, the label of authenticity is different for each traveler. It was also said in our readings that to some, the ultimate goal is to have the most ‘inside’ and authentic experience as one can, but this begs us to question whether or not a person really wants to have an authentic experience. I know from personal experience that there are those who do not want to have an ‘inside experience’ because they would rather not sleep in a hammock and eat ‘strange foods.’ In fact, some would rather have their days charted for them and eat not the local cuisine, but a resort’s remake of the dish being toned down for the tastes of the western tongue. This analysis should bring up the topic of the Cognitive Approaches to Tourist Attractions (I will refer to this as “the CATA chart”) in the students head and the dichotomy of security versus risk. Which is more risky, having and inside experience or an outside experience? Looking at the CATA chart, one can see that all down the “Risk” side of the chart are inside experiences but I would argue that in the grand scheme of things, the “Secure” side of the chart has more potential for problems because the perceived experience is not supposed to be flawed – when a little thing goes wrong this is a risk within the expected “safe experience” giving the tourist a jolt every time she/he realizes that the makeshift world can come tumbling down quite quickly.
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