Using Net-Based Ethnography (Netnography) to Understand the Staging and Marketing of “Authentic African” Dining Experiences to Tourists at Victoria Falls

Abstract

Performativity is a phenomenon within authenticity theory in tourism that emphasizes the active participation of tourists in the authentication of tourism experiences. Tourists also seek tangible cultural objects to authenticate their experiences. In response, many restaurateurs selling “Africanness” of cultural products in Victoria Falls use electronic technologies to communicate both the tangibility and active participation attached to their offers. These messages create the expectation of an authentic experience in restaurant “eatertainment.” The article illustrates how two restaurants’ cultural product augmentations are represented online as tangibly and performatively authentic as well as how tourists respond to them as expressed in their online reviews.