Staged authenticity and nostalgia of mining tourists in the Jiayang mining Geo-park of China

Abstract

ABSTRACT In recent years many mining historical heritage sites with geological, mining, and esthetic curiosities alike have been transformed into tourist attractions. This study investigates the staged authenticity and types of nostalgia either as experiences or as motivators to influence revisit intention in the context of the Jiayang Mining Geopark in China, an exemplified transnational industrial heritage from European countries. Survey data collected from 280 Chinese mining tourists revealed that the transnational feature of the mining town, such as the Soviet and British architectures, either staged or portrayed, can be highly pursued by mining tourists. Types of nostalgic responses were identified, especially the historical one, regardless of their social and historical connection to the site. The staged authentic experiences and personal nostalgia possessed qualities of travel motivation but were somewhat limited in their motive potentials for revisit intention. The results acknowledge that the staged mining historical heritage in China plays multiple and self-reflexive roles to enrich authentic and nostalgic values throughout the trip, which can help evaluate marketing strategies from the tourist gaze.