The Buppaesanniwas phenomenon: ‘Thainess’ and national identity as a film tourism motivation

ABSTRACT

The 2018 Thai soap opera Buppaesanniwas was a genre-breaking historical-fantasy drama and a surprise hit among Thai audiences that resulted in a dramatic rise of domestic tourists to the Ayutthaya World Heritage Site. The television series was lauded as a celebration of Thai culture, and fans often visited the ancient ruins dressed in traditional Thai clothing. This paper explores the case study of the film tourism phenomenon at Ayutthaya and pays particular attention to the idea of national and cultural identity as a tourism motivation using field observations, media research and purposive interviews. Film tourism has typically been driven by the desire to see the landscapes featured in the media, but in this case, we find that the desire to visit Ayutthaya as a destination is also as much about celebrating the idea of ‘Thainess’ which is manifested by the accompanying trend of wearing traditional Thai dress.

KEYWORDS:

• Thailand
• film tourism
• national identity
• Ayutthaya
• Buppaesanniwas
• motivation
• traditional Thai dress

Disclosure statement

No potential conflict of interest was reported by the authors.

Notes on contributors

Gulapish Pookaiyaudom is a lecturer in Recreation and Tourism Management at the Faculty of Sports Science in Chulalongkorn University.

Noel Hidalgo Tan is the Senior Specialist in Archaeology at the Southeast Asian Ministers of Education Organization Regional Centre for Archaeology and Fine Arts (SEAMEO-SPAFA).