Explorations in Thai Tourism

After years of study of mainstream tourism in Thailand, brought together in two volumes the author realized the existence of a multiplicity of tourist phenomena and events of considerable interest but as yet unexplored in tourism research. These were conducted in the course of the last four years via a series of case studies of these phenomena. This book brings these studies together, providing them with a unifying theoretical background and drawing from them broader theoretical and ethical conclusions.

Contemporary Thailand is marked by processes of rapid social transformation, economic and communicative globalization, and the commodification of culture and environment. These processes lead to the juxtaposition of diverse, often conflicting, cultural domains, economic interests and political aims, which engender conflicts in many fields, but these are particularly salient in tourist situations. This book explores the different dynamics of a variety of such situations and show how they are shaped by these incongruities and conflicts. While the case studies will be analyzed on the background of the Thai context, the theoretical implications of the analyses will be of more general significance. By presenting a number of apparently unrelated case studies, and linking them in a common conceptual framework, the book will be an innovative theoretical and methodological contribution to tourism studies.