Thailand through travel writings in English: An evaluation and representation
This paper studied the impact and influence of travel writings on tourist decision making regarding traveling to Thailand, tourist conceptualizations of Thailand before traveling and their satisfaction after traveling. The research comprised two projects involving quantitative research and analytica...
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doaj-eb43346d85e24385aa60ab6a37fa74562020-11-25T01:04:40ZengElsevierKasetsart Journal of Social Sciences2452-31512016-01-013711610.1016/j.kjss.2016.01.006Thailand through travel writings in English: An evaluation and representationSoranat Tailanga0Thongrob Ruenbanthoeng1Kulapa Kuldilok2Natthanai Prasannam3Department of Literature, Faculty of Humanities, Kasetsart University, Bangkok 10900, ThailandDepartment of Literature, Faculty of Humanities, Kasetsart University, Bangkok 10900, ThailandDepartment of Agricultural and Resource Economics, Faculty of Economics, Kasetsart University, Bangkok 10900, ThailandDepartment of Literature, Faculty of Humanities, Kasetsart University, Bangkok 10900, ThailandThis paper studied the impact and influence of travel writings on tourist decision making regarding traveling to Thailand, tourist conceptualizations of Thailand before traveling and their satisfaction after traveling. The research comprised two projects involving quantitative research and analytical research. The former studied the impact and influence of travel writings and the differences between the tourists' attitudes before and after traveling to Thailand and found that, among the top-five guidebooks, Lonely Planet is the most popular among tourists. It is also found that, before they came to Thailand, what attracted the tourists the most were Thai hospitality, the breathtakingly beautiful and exotic natural scenery, and the myriad tourist attractions. After the trip, they found that Thailand's transportation, food, political stability, and safety were better than described in the books; whereas its uniqueness, value worthiness, and weather were worse. The analytical research studied representation of Thailand in travel writings in English through a stylistic approach, discourse analysis, and conceptions of Orientalism. It found that the writings provide a socio-cultural overview of Thailand and details of tourist attractions. The otherness of “Thainess” is constructed through Thailand's exotic beauty, dangers, social problems, political instability, inadequate freedom of expression, and ‘other habitus’ of Thais. These conceptualizations construct the readers' or tourists' identities as quality travelers and highly knowledgeable and moral individuals.http://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S2452315116000072Representation of ThailandTravel writingsTourism in Thailand |
collection |
DOAJ |
language |
English |
format |
Article |
sources |
DOAJ |
author |
Soranat Tailanga Thongrob Ruenbanthoeng Kulapa Kuldilok Natthanai Prasannam |
spellingShingle |
Soranat Tailanga Thongrob Ruenbanthoeng Kulapa Kuldilok Natthanai Prasannam Thailand through travel writings in English: An evaluation and representation Kasetsart Journal of Social Sciences Representation of Thailand Travel writings Tourism in Thailand |
author_facet |
Soranat Tailanga Thongrob Ruenbanthoeng Kulapa Kuldilok Natthanai Prasannam |
author_sort |
Soranat Tailanga |
title |
Thailand through travel writings in English: An evaluation and representation |
title_short |
Thailand through travel writings in English: An evaluation and representation |
title_full |
Thailand through travel writings in English: An evaluation and representation |
title_fullStr |
Thailand through travel writings in English: An evaluation and representation |
title_full_unstemmed |
Thailand through travel writings in English: An evaluation and representation |
title_sort |
thailand through travel writings in english: an evaluation and representation |
publisher |
Elsevier |
series |
Kasetsart Journal of Social Sciences |
issn |
2452-3151 |
publishDate |
2016-01-01 |
description |
This paper studied the impact and influence of travel writings on tourist decision making regarding traveling to Thailand, tourist conceptualizations of Thailand before traveling and their satisfaction after traveling. The research comprised two projects involving quantitative research and analytical research. The former studied the impact and influence of travel writings and the differences between the tourists' attitudes before and after traveling to Thailand and found that, among the top-five guidebooks, Lonely Planet is the most popular among tourists. It is also found that, before they came to Thailand, what attracted the tourists the most were Thai hospitality, the breathtakingly beautiful and exotic natural scenery, and the myriad tourist attractions. After the trip, they found that Thailand's transportation, food, political stability, and safety were better than described in the books; whereas its uniqueness, value worthiness, and weather were worse.
The analytical research studied representation of Thailand in travel writings in English through a stylistic approach, discourse analysis, and conceptions of Orientalism. It found that the writings provide a socio-cultural overview of Thailand and details of tourist attractions. The otherness of “Thainess” is constructed through Thailand's exotic beauty, dangers, social problems, political instability, inadequate freedom of expression, and ‘other habitus’ of Thais. These conceptualizations construct the readers' or tourists' identities as quality travelers and highly knowledgeable and moral individuals. |
topic |
Representation of Thailand Travel writings Tourism in Thailand |
url |
http://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S2452315116000072 |
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