Globalisation, Tourism and Simulacra

A Baudrillardian Study of Tourist Space in Thailand.

Exploring the extent to which Baudrillard’s theory can apply in a non-western context, this book draws on studies of famous floating markets to explore the effects of globalisation and tourism in Thailand, contending that tourism can in fact recreate rather than erode local culture.

This book draws on the thought of Baudrillard to explore the effects of globalisation and tourism in a Thai context. Arguing that tourism does not necessarily erode local culture but that local culture can in fact be recreated through globalisation and tourism, the author employs studies of the Damnoen Saduk and Pattaya floating markets, showing them to be simulations of Thai culture that undergo changes of form, cultural content and activity, through various stages of representation. With a focus on the themes of the circulation of value and signs, the play of differences and orders of simulacra, this volume examines the extent to which Baudrillard’s theory can apply in a non-western context and in relation to tourism. A study of consumption, tourism and the relations between the global and the local, Globalisation, Tourism and Simulacra will appeal to scholars of sociology and geography with interests tourism, globalisation and social theory.