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.As well as the images and striking, sensuous aesthetic, the second notabledimension of the campaign was the categorization of Thailand into  nine facets oftravel identified as being  unique to the Kingdom :  amazing shopping paradise , amazing tastes of Thailand ,  amazing culture and heritage ,  amazing worldheritage ,  amazing natural heritage ,  amazing Thai arts and lifestyle ,  amazingsports ,  amazing agricultural produce , and  amazing gateway.15 These rubricswere used as marketing tools for promoting particular attractions, each actingas a product in the brand range.This extended an approach already exemplifiedby Thai tourism promotion publications.The first line of the brochure Thailand:A Golden Wonderland (which was published before Amazing Thailand, but continuedto be distributed as part of the campaign) claims that the land s  enduring traditionsexemplify a quintessential  Thainess which indelibly colors the nation and givesthe sense of an ancient land that is different.16 Such brochures, and the campaign asa whole, having set up the theme of a distinctive Thai essence, proceed to representit metonymically.This metonymy works by depicting, in verbal and visual signsreplete with images of wondrousness, bounty, refinement and tradition, the culturalparticulars which supposedly constitute that whole.Tourism, 2:4 (1999), p.323.15 Amazing Thailand 1998 1999, brochure (Tourism Authority of Thailand, 1998).16 Thailand: A Golden Wonderland, brochure (Tourism Authority of Thailand, 1996), p.6.The Textuality of Tourism and the Ontology of Resource 97The images employed suggest the seamless identity of Thai people, place andculture, through the representations of Thai society reproducing its indigenousforms: cuisine, crafts, dress, performing arts, and so on.The emphasis is on thematerial appearance of things markedly Thai, and the performance of ritualswhich involve them, from long-tail boating to wearing silk.The brochure AmazingThai Festivals and Events 1998 invites the tourist to experience an array of localactivities.Both people and things become representative embodiments of the nationalspirit; their main discursive function is to be typical.The provenance of specific rituals who the participants are, and their roles in contemporary culture  are largelyelided, resulting in the sense that  this is what the locals do.17 There is frequentmention of continuity, emphasizing that Thailand retains its cultural integrity today.For example, the brochure Amazing Natural Heritage argues that Thailand is notonly a country of  immense natural wealth , but that it has retained an extraordinaryamount of this natural heritage.18 Perhaps the most extreme case is to be found inthe lyrics of the Amazing Thailand song,  Thailand, the Golden Paradise , which isparticularly rarefied for not having to intersperse the rhetoric with mundane touristicparticulars:I dreamed of a Kingdom green as jade,Where stone ruins stand in the palm tree s shade,Where rice fields stretch from hills to the strand,And the beaches glisten with fine white sand.Thailand, Thailand, golden paradise,Thailand, Thailand, where tranquil dreams entice.I long to touch the light,And feel the jasmine night,In Thailand, land of a thousand smiles.I dreamed of the city where I was born.Electric by night, serene in the dawn,Where glittering temples and palaces stand,Next to towering pagodas ancient and grand.The hilltops rise where the rivers part,The orchids bloom in the jungle s heart,The silk soft glow of a maiden s glance,As she bends her hands in a ritual dance.19Overall, the depiction of the indigenous sphere as a site for the production, circulationand consumption of authentic cultural forms constructs Thailand as an ethnically17 Amazing Thai Festivals and Events 1998, brochure (Tourism Authority of Thailand,1998).18 Amazing Natural Heritage, brochure (Tourism Authority of Thailand, 1998), p.11.19  Thailand, The Golden Paradise, Official Theme Songs of Amazing Thailand , cassetteliner (Tourism Authority of Thailand, 1998).98 Economies of Representation, 1790 2000unified, autochthonous wonderland.This seems consonant with the argument that aprimary motive of tourists is the search for authenticity.In his influential early work, The Tourist, Dean MacCannell argues that moderntourists seek experiences of  premodern cultural wholeness as a panacea for theireveryday experiences of social fragmentation [ Pobierz całość w formacie PDF ]