Small tourism entrepreneurs, heritage authenticity and tourism gentrification: a critical engagement with more-than-representational theory

The ongoing economic uncertainties have a significant impact on how heritage is experienced. In the context of tourism gentrification, small tourism entrepreneurs (STEs) are often criticised for (over)commodification of the past, thereby altering perceptions of heritage authenticity. This study adopts Waterton’s (Citation2014) more-than-representational approach, suggesting authenticity is relational, contextual and negotiable through embodied everyday heritage experiences. Drawing on focus groups with thirty interviews and participant observation, this study identifies two central challenges faced by STEs: (1) the loss of consistency and cohesion in the meaning-making of heritage and (2) the insufficient integration of local everyday practices in performing heritage. These challenges demonstrate the need to negotiate power relations and to perform heritage authenticity within a gentrified context where cultural meaning, economic survival and place-making interplay. The conclusion offers recommendations for tourism development and historic place marketing, with a practical emphasis on the importance of supporting STEs as active agents in negotiating meaning-making and performing heritage authenticity as everyday entrepreneurial practices.