Semiotic Authenticity and Commercializatio Heritage Tourism Destinations: Based on a Case Study of Wuzhen and Zhouzhuang

Authenticity is an important criterion of heritage evaluation,but the most visited heritage tourism destinations are normally pseudo-authentic.From tourism semiotics perspective and a case study of Zhouzhuang and Wuzhen,the authors found that Pseudo-Authenticity is a kind of semiotic reality constructed and promoted by the media and local community,supported by mass tourists,and is widely spread with the effect of word-of-mouth.It is the interaction between the stakeholders that makes the development of heritage tourism destinations dependent on the constructed pseudo-authenticity,hence strengthened the process of their commercialization.