This paper is based on a case study on a Chinese investment proposal in Iceland and sets out to explore the different ways in which actors from different backgrounds, with an extensive range of expectations and ideas of what a destination could and should be, produce and sustain ideas about tourism development. Our point of departure is how tourism represents a new globalised economic expansion possibly reflecting processes of empire building of days gone by. This research suggests that the conflicting worlds of Chinese investment plans, seemingly pregnant with imperial aspirations, coreperiphery dichotomies, as well as contesting ideas of regional development, represent a need to begin re-thinking our understanding of tourism regional development from the perspective of what empires are.
This article examines shifts in the image of Iceland created for international tourism. It argues that at the beginning of the 21st century the more traditional spotlight on the country's natural attractions was altered, giving an additional, new focus on the nation's beautiful, and apparently sexually promiscuous, women. Such a development deserves further comment for a variety of reasons. First, an examination of the importance of women to Iceland's national marketing, especially their depiction visually, underlines the need to reconsider the substantial role of gender and imagery representation in tourism studies, two themes that have been underexamined by scholars working in the discipline. Second, as a Nordic nation with a reputation for gender equality, this focus on women as sexual objects readily available for male tourist consumption raises a serious contradiction. Last but not least, the use of sexually alluring female images by a developed nation has intriguing implications for postcolonial scholars interested in representations of 'the Other'. While shying away from implying that ideologies of 'race' are not important to discussions of international sex tourism, this article suggests that gender should be considered an equally important contributing factor in such analyses.
This work focuses upon a method of expansion often overlooked when examining comparative aspects of the growth of empires, namely that territory can be attained through purchase or lease. It identifies a colonial process that, while seeming to have disappeared under the historical radar, remains one of the most powerful determiners of the modern world’s political landscape. It also suggests that empires, contrary to common belief, do not have to be state led and that a variety of other imperial actors can participate in such a process. By drawing attention to this particular method of territorial expansion and the variety of potential players involved, this work underscores the continuing relevance of imperial studies. It simultaneously suggests a need to begin rethinking our understanding of what empires are, how they can be formed and who imperial players can be.
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