Tourism in Southeast Asia: Challenges and New Directions

Tourism is one of the major forces for economic, social, and cultural change in the Southeast Asian region and, as a complex multidimensional phenomenon, has attracted increasing scholarly attention during the past two decades from researchers from a broad range of disciplines―not least anthropology, sociology, economics, political science, history, development studies, and business/management. It has also commanded the attention of policy-makers, planners, and development practitioners.However, what has been lacking for many years is a volume that analyzes tourism from the major disciplinary perspectives, considers major substantive themes of particular significance in the region (cultural tourism, ecotourism, romance/sex tourism, etc.), and pays attention to such important conceptual issues as the interaction between local and global, the role of the state in identity formation, authenticity, the creation of "tradition," and sustainability.
Such a thorough analysis is offered by Tourism in Southeast Asia, which provides an up-to-date exploration of the state of tourism development and associated issues in one of the world’s most dynamic tourism destinations. The volume takes a close look at many of the challenges facing Southeast Asian tourism at a critical stage of transition and transformation, and following a recent series of crises and disasters. Building on and advancing the path-breaking Tourism in Southeast Asia, produced by the same editors in 1993, it adopts a multidisciplinary approach and includes contributions from some of the leading researchers on tourism in Southeast Asia, presenting a number of fresh perspectives. The volume combines introductory material with an in-depth examination of anthropological writing on Southeast Asian tourism followed by case studies dealing with issues as diverse as globalization, terrorism, "romance tourism," and ecotourism.
The subjects addressed in this volume are not solely Southeast Asian phenomena and are moreover caught up in the ongoing debates about the political, cultural, and environmental ramifications associated with globalization. As such, this study is a crucial text for anyone working on Southeast Asian tourism but it will be of great interest to many scholars in fields beyond this area.

Michael Hitchcock is director, Interna­tional Institute for Culture, Tourism and Development, London Metropolitan University. Victor T. King is professor of Southeast Asian studies and executive director of the White Rose East Asia Centre at the University of Leeds. Michael Parnwell is reader in Southeast Asian geography, University of Leeds.