Tourist territorialisation and geographies of opportunity at the edges of mass destinations

ABSTRACT

Geographies of tourism often highlight tourism's tendency to exclude or displace local economic actors. Tourism enclaves tend to be particularly exclusive at destination sites and urban centres. This study looks at the edge of a mass tourism town centre and investigates how landowners, entrepreneurs and employees retain a foothold in the face of tourism expansion. Conducted in 2014–2015, this microgeography of a tourist backstreet in Siem Reap, Cambodia comprises a survey of 73 of the occupants and over 40 follow-up interviews complemented by a photographic record of 135 premises. It found most local landowners retaining their properties, and only engaging strategically and selectively with the tourism economy. Entrepreneurial opportunities were initially taken by migrants from other provinces, and then, as tourism expanded, by foreigners and by local entrepreneurs with experience of employment in established tourism businesses. This study illustrates how tourism's territorialisation of back regions is quite different from that of front regions. Even in relatively impoverished settings, pre-tourism economic activities and business cultures may contribute to local actors being able to achieve relatively secure footholds in hybridised space at the edges tourism booms.

摘要

旅游地理研究经常强调旅游业具有排斥当地经济行动者的倾向。在旅游城市中心的旅游飞地尤其具有排他性。本研究考察了一个大众旅游城镇中心的边缘地区, 研究土地所有者、企业家和雇员如何在旅游扩张中保留一席之地。本研究于2014–2015年对柬埔寨暹粒的一个旅游街巷进行了小尺度地理研究, 调查了73个房屋所有者, 进行了40余次跟踪访谈, 另外对135处房产进行了摄影记录以补充本研究。研究发现, 当地绝大多数土地所有者保留了他们的房产, 只是从战略角度选择性地参与旅游经济。最先外省移民从事旅游经营, 伴随外来者旅游扩张, 曾经在现有旅游企业从业的本地人也参与旅游经营。本研究说明了旅游目的地“后台”地区 (旅游腹地)的旅游地域划分与“前台地区” (旅游核心区) 非常不同, 即使在相对贫困的地区, 旅游大规模发展前的经济活动和商业文化也可能对当地行动者有所帮助, 使他们能够在旅游核心区边缘地区的混杂空间中得以保持相对安全的地位。

KEYWORDS:

• Tourism geographies
• back regions
• livelihoods
• territorialisation
• pro-poor tourism
• Cambodia

关键词:

• 旅游地理学
• 后台地区
• 生计
• 地域划分
• 扶贫旅游
• 柬埔寨

Acknowledgements

Thank you very much to Regina Scheyvens, Andrew Bryerley and the three anonymous reviewers at Tourism Geographies for close readings and constructive comments on drafts of this article at various stages. The usual disclaimers apply.

Disclosure statement

No potential conflict of interest was reported by the author.

Additional information

Funding

Svenska Forskningsrådet Formas (The Swedish research council for sustainable development) [grant number 252319606].

Notes on contributors

Robin Biddulph

Robin Biddulph is a researcher in human geography at the University of Gothenburg. His earlier research focused on tenure rights interventions by the development industry and generated the evasion hypothesis. His current research focuses on land reform in Africa and social enterprise in Southeast Asia and Scandinavia.