This article explains why significant Thai-Western 'both-ways' migration pathways have evolved, grown and sustained over the last decades. It introduces a set of research contributions on transnational social relationships and cross-border connections between people that arise from the increasingly large-scale mobilities and migrations between Thailand and 'the West'countries from Europe, North America and Australia. While Thai and Western people's social relationships are usually studied as personal stories within a cross-border marriage migration perspective, we consider it necessary to see them as more than marriage migration. Specifically, we argue that the growing 'bothways' Thai-Western migration pathways can only be understood by reference to three features of globalisation processes specific to Thailand: first, cross-border connections and social networks generated by massive West-to-Thailand tourist mobilities that incentivise Western men to see living permanently with a Thai partner as 'realistic'; second, the radical transformations of Thai rural societies under conditions of economic development that produces 'surplus' mobile women; and third, the restrictive state immigration and citizenship regimes in the West and Thailand that leaves few pathways open for migration, other than by 'marriage'. In sum, Thailand's specific experience of globalisation is the explanatory backstory to the extraordinary prevalence of Thai-Western 'both-ways' migrations.
Increasingly, travellers are using online review platforms to post reviews about hotels. The responses to negative reviews need to be managed in a way to recover service failures. The main aim of this study was to examine the strategies used by hotel managers in responding to negative reviews on TripAdvisor. An integrated framework for analysing response strategies is developed. Content analysis of TripAdvisor reviews and interviews with hotel managers show a range of response strategies are used. We uncover two additional dimensions: values and culture. Hotels are aware of the advantages that can be gained from using appropriate responses.
Increasing competition and demanding ecotourists mean customer satisfaction is critical for any ecolodge business. Ecolodges are a unique accommodation type in the tourism market that attempt to represent ecotourism principles. This study uses Llosa's tetraclasse model to explore underlying satisfaction attributes within an ecolodge located on the island Kadavu, Fiji. Using semistructured interviews and focus groups, supplemented by online reviews, this study identifies key moments of positive and negative experience during guests' stay in the ecolodge. The results of this study provide ecolodges and other small-scale accommodation businesses with specific attributes that heighten satisfaction and identify those attributes that lead to dissatisfaction.
While research on Asian tourism has increased in recent years, studies on Asian travellers' consumption patterns in Europe are still rather rare. Taking a sociological perspective, this research examines Asian tourists' consumption in Vienna in relation to their sense of distinction and mobility. Combining results of a quantitative survey of 560 tourists from China, Japan, South Korea, and Thailand with semi-structured interviews of tour guides and representatives of a destination marketing agency, the authors tested a hypothetical model of factors driving Asian tourists' status consumption. While Japanese and South Korean tourists tended toward lifestyle consumption, Chinese and Thai visitors were more likely to engage in material consumption to gain social status. The authors explain the variation of status consumption across Asian tourist groups in terms of the mobility and socio-cultural characteristics of the middle class from the four countries.
ARTICLE HISTORY
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