Tourism and Tibetan Culture in Transition

Ashild Kolas

"This book explores the relationship between tourism, culture and ethnic identity in Shangrila, a Tibetan region in southwest China, to show how local 'Tibetan culture' is reconstructed as a marketable commodity for tourists. It analyses the socioeconomic effects of Shangrila tourism, investigating who benefits economically, while also considering its political implications and the ways in which tourism might be linked to the reassertion of ethnic identity. It goes on to examine the spatial re-imagining provoked by the development of tourism, and asks whether a tourist destination inevitably becomes a 'pseudo-community' for the visited."--BOOK JACKET.