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Thailand Tourism
276
PUBLICATIONS IN REVIEW
Assigned 21 May 2007. Submitted 17 July 2007. Accepted 18 July 2007 doi:10.1016/j.annals.2007.07.006
Annals of Tourism Research, Vol. 35, No. 1, pp. 276–277, 2008 Printed in Great Britain
Thailand Tourism By Arthur Asa Berger. Haworth Hospitality Press 2007 xx + 144 pp (index, photographs, references) $24.95 Pbk. ISBN-10 0 7890 3184 1 Bongkosh Ngamsom Rittichainuwat Siam University, Thailand There is demand for a scholarly book on Thai tourism among academics and graduate students in this country, as well as scholars in other countries interested in this fascinating destination. Unfortunately, Thailand Tourism fails to come anywhere close to meeting that demand. Drawing on personal experience as well as secondary sources, the book examines the impact of Thai society, culture, and everyday life on tourism, and vice versa, with the explicit attempt to make the reader more culturally sensitive to its culture. The book opens with a discussion of the nature of tourism, followed by a review of global and Thailand tourism statistics. Subsequent chapters look at tour itineraries in Thailand, images of Thailand, violence and marriage in Thai society, tourism semiotics, and a diverse set of reflections on Buddhism, Bangkok, ethnic tribes, and prostitution. The book closes with some personal reflections. As an American, Berger provides readers with an interesting perspective on Thai culture. However, the book has room for improvement. First, there are frequent misspellings of specific names of food, places, and organizations. Second, there are a number of inaccurate statements. For example, it states King Prajadhikpok (1925– 1935) was succeeded by his son, Ananda. In fact, King Anandamahidol was the son of Prince Mahidol of Songkla, not King Prajadhikpok. Another inaccuracy concerns Thai temples: ‘‘these towers (stupas or chedis in Thai temples) are phallic in nature and represent a kind of sublimation of the sexual energy of Buddhist monks, who take vows of celibacy, into architecture’’ (p.92). However, according to Buddhist cosmology, the stupas or chedis represent the three worlds (heaven, the human realm, and hell), and thus were built as physical representations of the Buddha’s teaching. Third, much of the book’s analysis is superficial. For example, Chapter 4 uses only one year’s statistics and some questionable assumptions to extrapolate the conclusion that the crime rate in Thailand is as high as that of the United States. The use of only a small number of guidebooks supplemented by articles from the popular press and Internet sites such as Wikipedia is yet another source of weakness. Information in these outlets, especially the Internet, often comes from only one unreliable or unsubstantiated source, with the ideas and ‘‘facts’’ exaggerated or mistaken. This is reflected in this study of Thai people, expressed by generalizations that lack empirical support. For example, on the basis of one book about Burma, it explicitly concludes that Thailand, a neighboring country, is similar to
PUBLICATIONS IN REVIEW
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Burma: ‘‘[a] bit of searching on the Internet showed that, like the Burmese, as described in 1973, Thai culture is also very violent’’ (pp.48–49). If the histories of Thailand and Burma had been more thoroughly studied, the book would more clearly present how the two countries have distinct cultures, customs, and other characteristics that have, to some extent, been the cause of centuries of conflict. The book consistently presents Thai culture as being predominantly individualistic. In fact, it is highly collectivistic (Hofstede 2001). Although young, affluent, and highly educated Thais appear to have less of a collectivist orientation than the rest of the population, the majority are highly group-oriented, valuing dependence and consideration of the cluster to which one belongs (Patterson and Smith 2001). The book also misunderstands certain Buddhist traditions. For example, ‘‘[i]f a woman, by chance, touches a monk, he must undergo a complicated purification ritual. This implies that women are ‘unclean’ and thus contact with a woman, even if it is accidental, contaminates a monk’’ (p.69). In fact, according to the Vinaya (rules of training for monks) of Theravada Buddhism, it is a violation of only a minor rule if a monk inadvertently touches a woman, and no violation if the woman does so by chance. Moreover, this is not because women are ‘‘unclean’’ but because even slight contact with women is to be avoided, as there is potential for arousing sensuous feelings, both in the celibate monk and in the woman. There is no ‘‘complicated purification ritual’’ involved or attitude that the monk has been ‘‘contaminated’’ if this has happened. Merely confessing to a fellow monk for the lack of mindfulness that allowed it to happen and then admonishment by the fellow monk to be more mindful in the future is sufficient to absolve that monk for this minor infraction of the Vinaya. In conclusion, this book has been launched at an appropriate time. Unfortunately, the title of the book does not reflect its contents, which are not about Thailand’s tourism industry, but about Thailand’s culture. Moreover, the content has too many flaws to allow it to be used as a scholarly source. Most of the chapters are strongly influenced by the themes of other authors writing on Thailand. The whole suffers from insufficient statistical data, a lack of comprehensive literature review on Thai studies and empirical validation of assertions, and misunderstandings regarding Thai culture. The result is a distorted picture of Thailand. This book may be of interest to potential tourists. However, readers must be especially cautious when reading it. It is inappropriate as a textbook or reference for an individual or library collection. Bongkosh Ngamsom Rittichainuwat: International Program in Hotel and Tourism Management, Siam University, Bangkok 10160, Thailand. Email
REFERENCES Hofstede, G. 2001 Culture’s Consequences: Campaign Values, Behavior, Institutions, and Organizations across Nations (2nd ed.). Thousand Oaks: Sage. Patterson, P., and T. Smith 2001 Modeling Relationship Strength across Service Types in an Eastern Culture. International Journal of Service Industry Management 12(2):90–113.
Assigned 1 March 2007. Submitted 21 May 2007. Accepted 30 May 2007 doi:10.1016/j.annals.2007.05.013
PUBLICATIONS IN REVIEW
Assigned 21 May 2007. Submitted 17 July 2007. Accepted 18 July 2007 doi:10.1016/j.annals.2007.07.006
Annals of Tourism Research, Vol. 35, No. 1, pp. 276–277, 2008 Printed in Great Britain
Thailand Tourism By Arthur Asa Berger. Haworth Hospitality Press
PUBLICATIONS IN REVIEW
277
Burma: ‘‘[a] bit of searching on the Internet showed that, like the Burmese, as described in 1973, Thai culture is also very violent’’ (pp.48–49). If the histories of Thailand and Burma had been more thoroughly studied, the book would more clearly present how the two countries have distinct cultures, customs, and other characteristics that have, to some extent, been the cause of centuries of conflict. The book consistently presents Thai culture as being predominantly individualistic. In fact, it is highly collectivistic (Hofstede 2001). Although young, affluent, and highly educated Thais appear to have less of a collectivist orientation than the rest of the population, the majority are highly group-oriented, valuing dependence and consideration of the cluster to which one belongs (Patterson and Smith 2001). The book also misunderstands certain Buddhist traditions. For example, ‘‘[i]f a woman, by chance, touches a monk, he must undergo a complicated purification ritual. This implies that women are ‘unclean’ and thus contact with a woman, even if it is accidental, contaminates a monk’’ (p.69). In fact, according to the Vinaya (rules of training for monks) of Theravada Buddhism, it is a violation of only a minor rule if a monk inadvertently touches a woman, and no violation if the woman does so by chance. Moreover, this is not because women are ‘‘unclean’’ but because even slight contact with women is to be avoided, as there is potential for arousing sensuous feelings, both in the celibate monk and in the woman. There is no ‘‘complicated purification ritual’’ involved or attitude that the monk has been ‘‘contaminated’’ if this has happened. Merely confessing to a fellow monk for the lack of mindfulness that allowed it to happen and then admonishment by the fellow monk to be more mindful in the future is sufficient to absolve that monk for this minor infraction of the Vinaya. In conclusion, this book has been launched at an appropriate time. Unfortunately, the title of the book does not reflect its contents, which are not about Thailand’s tourism industry, but about Thailand’s culture. Moreover, the content has too many flaws to allow it to be used as a scholarly source. Most of the chapters are strongly influenced by the themes of other authors writing on Thailand. The whole suffers from insufficient statistical data, a lack of comprehensive literature review on Thai studies and empirical validation of assertions, and misunderstandings regarding Thai culture. The result is a distorted picture of Thailand. This book may be of interest to potential tourists. However, readers must be especially cautious when reading it. It is inappropriate as a textbook or reference for an individual or library collection. Bongkosh Ngamsom Rittichainuwat: International Program in Hotel and Tourism Management, Siam University, Bangkok 10160, Thailand. Email
REFERENCES Hofstede, G. 2001 Culture’s Consequences: Campaign Values, Behavior, Institutions, and Organizations across Nations (2nd ed.). Thousand Oaks: Sage. Patterson, P., and T. Smith 2001 Modeling Relationship Strength across Service Types in an Eastern Culture. International Journal of Service Industry Management 12(2):90–113.
Assigned 1 March 2007. Submitted 21 May 2007. Accepted 30 May 2007 doi:10.1016/j.annals.2007.05.013