Primitive and remote. Hill tribe trekking in Thailand

Erik Cohen*

*Corresponding author for this work

Research output: Contribution to journalArticlepeer-review

200 Scopus citations

Abstract

MacCannell's concept of "staged authenticity" is applied to the study of "alternative tourism." It is argued that such tourism offers entrepreneurs unsuspected chances to stage covertly the authenticity of attractions, precisely because the commodity they offer is "authenticity." The staging, however, will consist primarily in the communicative presentation of the attractions, rather than in their substantive manipulation. The argument is examined by way of a content analysis of the advertisements of jungle-companies, offering trekking tours into the hill-tribe area of northern Thailand. The principal components of the hill tribes image, the experience offered to the trekkers, and the nature of the trekking tour itself, are analyzed in light of independently collected factual data. Thereby, the nature of the subtle staging of the hill tribes and of the trekking tour experience itself is brought to light.

Original languageEnglish
Pages (from-to)30-61
Number of pages32
JournalAnnals of Tourism Research
Volume16
Issue number1
DOIs
StatePublished - 1989

Keywords

  • alternative tourism
  • analyse du contenu
  • authenticité
  • authenticity
  • content analysis
  • hill tribes of Thailand
  • image touristique
  • L'autre` tourisme
  • Montagnards Tha{top right corner}landais
  • publicité touristique
  • raid
  • semiotics
  • sémiotique
  • tourist advertisements
  • touristic image
  • trekking

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