Thailand's culture is unlike any other. Travelers attempting to fully immerse themselves in all that this tourist destination has to offer find it essential to become culturally sensitive. Thailand Tourism provides readers with an indispensable overview of this remarkable land of contrasts. This invaluable text reveals the South East Asian country, its history, its culture, and its people's fun-loving perspective of life. The importance of Thai symbols and their meaning, icons and social practices, its proud history of its constitutional monarchy, and its numerous religious temples are examined in detail. This book offers tourists and students of tourism an informative, realistic view of the people, food, entertainment, and scenery of one of the most exotic lands in the world.

• Foreword (Dr. Darunee Hirunruk)
• Preface
• Acknowledgments
• PART 1: TOURISM IN THAILAND
• Chapter 1. Tourism, Travelers, and Thailand
• Definitions of Tourism
• Tourism As Adventure
• Kinds of Tourism
• Uses and Gratifications of Tourism
• Tourism and the Libido
• People on the Move: Statistics on Tourism in Europe and Asia
• Tourist Arrivals in Thailand by Nationality
• World's Top International Tourism Earners
• World's Top Fifteen International Tourism Spenders
• Vacation Days Per Year in Selected Countries
• What Tourists Spend in Thailand
• Chapter 2. Typical Tourist Itineraries in Thailand
• The Classic Tours of Thailand
• Commonalties of the Four Tours
• A Suggested Tour of Thailand by a Thai Tourism Student
• Intrepid Tours of Thailand
• The Snake of Terrorism in the Paradise of Thailand and Other Problems
• Chapter 3. Images of Thailand in Travel Literature
• John Gunther's Siam
• The Lonely Planet Guidebooks
• Slogans
• Chapter 4. Violence and Marriage: Two Aspects of Thai Character, Culture, and Personality
• The Happy-Go-Lucky Thais and the Burmese
• Violence in Thai Society
• Marriage in Thailand As Reflected in Thai Comic Books
• Cultural Explanations
• PART II: SEMIOTIC SIAM
• Chapter 5. A Primer on the Semiotics of Tourism
• Saussure on Signs
• Peirce's Semiotics: Icons, Indexes, and Symbols
• Roland Barthes's Empire of Signs
• Chapter 6. Signs and Symbols in Thailand
• The Thai Smile
• King Bhumibol Adulyadej of Thailand
• Bangkok, City of Angels
• The Buddhist Monks of Thailand
• Buddha Statues
• Elephants and the Thai Psyche
• Ethnic Tribes
• Wats (Temples)
• The Thai Wai
• Thai Food
• Thai Prostitutes and the Sex Industry
• Thailand and America: A Study in Otherness
• PART III: THAILAND ON MY MIND
• Chapter 7. Notes from My Thailand Journal
• Arrival in Bangkok
• Cultural Clash
• Chiang Mai Adventures
• The Pleasure of Chance Encounters
• Notes on Signs and Symbols in Thailand
• On the Night Ferry to Ko Samui
• Speculations on Typical Tourist Activities
• Exotic California :High School Subcultures in California
• The Night Market at Hua Hin
• Chapter 8: A Journey of Ten Thousand Miles Ends with a Step
• Thailand As a Monoculture
• Ian Buruma on Thai Identity
• The Tourist As Amateur Anthropologist
• Thailand As a Text
• Thailand and the Human Spirit
• References
• Index