Explorations in Thai Tourism: Collected Case Studies

Erik Cohen, who has published extensively on Thai tourism, turns in this volume to some new, and as yet unexplored, topics. In a wide-ranging series of detailed case studies, he examines the intricacies of tourism dynamics on the micro-level in Thailand: tourism in the tsunami disaster; the prolonged struggle regarding the filming of "The Beach" on pristine Maya beach; the "postmodern" mitigation of the conflicting explanations of the Mekong fireballs; the transformation of a backpacker enclave in northern Thailand; the process by which the Thai elephant became a tourist plaything; the Thai cowboy sub-culture as a tourist attraction; the rapidly growing medical tourism to Thailand; and the manner Santa Claus was turned into a tourist on Thai Christmas cards. Each study is placed within a broader theoretical and comparative framework. The case studies are based on a wide variety of sources, including interviews, observations and printed material.The book is an original contribution to the anthropology of tourism, and to the growing field of Thai studies.