Untitled

purpose. Eventually, the picturesque elements are
selectively integrated into the decor of beach bars
and discos which retain a `traditional fishing
village' theme. The staging of authentic tradition
appeals to tourists who feel a need to be reminded
of the existence of simpler forms of work while
they are on vacation, or they may need to have
hard work made to appear pretty and leisurely to
assuage their guilt. Thus, a place of work is made
into a place of leisure for tourists. The nature of
the actual work that occurs in the village has
changed. The fishermen, or their children, are
now integrated into the global economy as service
workers for tourists. The actual work that is taking
place is masked by the work display and the
staging of authentic traditions for touristic
consumption. The repetition of this scenario
places staged authenticity on the cutting edge of
the global transformation of traditional economies
for tourism.
The distinction between a pseudo-attraction and
a real one is unsustainable. So-called real attractions
are subject to the same staging requirements
as pseudo-attractions, and some places, such as Las
Vegas, come to be so much associated with tacky
glitter for tourists that fakery becomes `the real' of
the place. European tourists to the United States
expect to see impersonal cityscapes, barren superhighways,
litter, street crime, fast food chains,
theme parks, trailer parks and Las Vegas-style
show business glitz. They would be disappointed if
they did not see such things, because for Europeans
these `tacky' and `pseudo' attractions are what is
most authentically American.
Since 1980, tourism researchers have mainly
turned away from questions of presentation and
staging of attractions. Instead, they have focused on
psychological questions of whether tourists are
motivated by a desire for authentic experience, or
are just as happy with touristic shows which they
know are staged for their entertainment. Theoretical
developments in other fields, especially the
emergence of postmodern theory and its concern
for the simulacrum and hyperreality, have absorbed
debates about real versus fake that started in
tourism studies.
DEAN MacCANNELL, USA
standardisation
standardisation 555
Standards are the norms with which products or
services must comply. Specified in documents
which determine how work must be carried out,
they can be defined as the objectives which must be
reached to satisfy clients' needs, desires and
expectations. The fulfilment of these objectives,
provided that they are articulated as requirements,
lead the company to deliver quality.
Standards must be relevant and simple; that is to
say, they must describe the phenomenon as fully as
possible by being detailed, precise, specific and
easily understandable. For a well-established definition,
it is necessary to consider: the final result
expected by the client, client satisfaction and the
need to be fulfilled or the client's initial expectations;
the characteristics and components; the work
process and the responsibilities of the organisation's
members; the global objective of the organisation
and thus its chosen strategy; and the means by
which these standards can be achieved �human
means, methods and procedures through which a
degree of excellence can be achieved, materials and
equipment to help provide the service and raw
materials) �Horovitz 1986: 54±6).
A product can be defined as a physical good or
service. It often consists of both elements, thus
identifying a physical good±pure service continuum
which clearly affects the perception of quality.
This dualism is present in the tourism sector
through the unique characteristics by which
services are identified, such as heterogeneity,
intangibility, simultaneous production and consumption,
and perishability. Heterogeneity is linked
to the ability to vary the result of a service, and the
very nature of a tourism service can vary according
to the producer, the client or the moment when the
service is required. It is fundamentally this
characteristic which hinders standardisation. However,
a definition of standards and the means which
allow standards to be achieved is essential in the
quest for quality. In fact, both the absence of
standards for the execution of work and errors in its
delimitation are considered key causal factors of
the so-called gap 2 in the theoretical and methodological
development of model of service quality
proposed by Zeithaml et al. �1990).