As is well known, in the 1960s and 1970s Thailand became a major destination for international tourists.
During those same years, Thailand’s domestic tourism market also expanded.
I was in the library the other day and came across a magazine that targeted potential Thai tourists in the 1960s and 1970s. In just looking at the images on the front cover of this magazine it’s interesting to see the kind of image of Thailand that was being promoted.
First and foremost, there was a strong emphasis on Buddhism.
Clearly one important purpose of domestic tourism was to visit Buddhist holy sites.
At the same time, there was a promotion of ethnically diverse areas;
Places where cultural practices differed;
And of rural areas.
And as was the case with advertising towards international tourists, women featured prominently in this magazine;
And particularly wholesome images of women and flowers (or can those images be interpreted in a critical way as women being objectified as flowers?).
Finally, there is this interesting overlap in imagery between the worlds of international and domestic Thai tourism.
This makes me wonder to what extent international tourism influenced (or didn’t influence) domestic Thai tourism. Clearly there was a sense of “modernity” that international tourism promoted and that Thai domestic tourists appear to have been attracted to, but the actual activities that international tourists and domestic Thai tourists engaged in seem to have largely differed.
Given how important tourism (both international and domestic) has been for modern Thailand, it’s surprising that this topic has not been researched by academics (as far as I know). Clearly, however, there are sources for such a history.
