Abstract
M.Com.
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...