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Migration, Micro - Business and Tourism in Thailand: Highlanders in the City

Trupp, Alexander (2017) Migration, Micro - Business and Tourism in Thailand: Highlanders in the City. Routledge Studies in Asian Diasporas, Migrations and Mobilities . Routledge, UK. ISBN 9781138210813

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Abstract

Visitors to Thailand’s urban and beach-sided tourist hotspots notice the presence of colourful and predominantly female vendors offering self-made and mass-manufactured products. A high percentage of these vendors are members of the highland ethnic minority group of Akha who have become micro-entrepreneurs or self-employed street vendors. The work and everyday life experiences of these ethnic minority migrants are situated at the intersections of tourism, migration, and the informal sector. This book investigates the social, economic, and political embeddedness of street vendors in urban tourist contexts in Thailand. Based on extensive field research, it presents a detailed analysis of urban-directed mobility patterns and revealing strategies and dilemmas in the urban souvenir business. Focusing on the development of urban ethnic minority souvenir stalls run mostly by people belonging to the highland group of Akha, the author explains the spatial expansion of ethnic businesses and assesses the economic and political obstacles micro-entrepreneurs are confronted with. The book offers an understanding of the everyday practices and social relations of and between unequally powerful actors related to ethnic minority tourism in urban contexts, and systematically integrates individual and collective action into socio-economic and politico-institutional contexts.

Item Type: Book
Subjects: D History General and Old World > DS Asia
H Social Sciences > H Social Sciences (General)
H Social Sciences > HC Economic History and Conditions
Divisions: Faculty of Business and Economics (FBE) > School of Tourism and Hospitality Management
Depositing User: Fulori Nainoca - Waqairagata
Date Deposited: 18 Oct 2016 22:39
Last Modified: 24 Mar 2019 23:18
URI: http://repository.usp.ac.fj/id/eprint/9414
UNSPECIFIED

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