Commercializing Hospitality A New Concept for Residents of Viengxay, Laos
Wantanee Suntikul
ABSTRACT: Recently, small numbers of independent tourists and small groups have begun to visit the remote and poor region of Viengxay in northern Laos. This article is based on focus-group interviews and on-site observation in thirteen villages in Vi- engxay, intended to explore the perceptions and expectations of locals regarding their roles as hosts in this emerging tourism context. It discusses the ways in which locals are developing att itudes and practices of hospitality towards tourists. These practices are emerging under the infl uence of factors such as native cultural traditions, individ- ual and communal expectations and att itudes towards tourism, as well as historical factors arising from the area’s history of war and political isolation. Although locals intuitively treat tourists according to their society’s ‘traditional’ treatment of guests, this treatment is also modifi ed to refl ect an appreciation that tourists are a specifi c type of guest for which the rules of hospitality may need to be reinterpreted. Locals’ perceptions of tourists and behaviour in their relations with tourists are evolving as a result of growing contact between locals and tourists and the concomitantly changing expectations from and understanding of the tourism industry. This article articulates common themes for conceptualising the ways in which hospitality practices in the Viengxay villages are emerging from interaction and confl ict of these various aspects.
KEYWORDS: cave tourism; development; heritage; hospitality; tourism; Viengxay, Laos; Vietnam War tourism
Introduction the number of these visitors from afar will increase steadily in coming years, due in part The district of Viengxay is located in the re- to development projects initiated by interna- mote forested northern Laotian Province of tional organizations. Houaphanh. It is home to members of several This research addresses the question of how diff erent indigenous ethnic groups, many of local people in Viengxay perceive their roles whom live in small villages and maintain vis-à-vis tourists within the emerging tour- many aspects of their ‘traditional’ way of ism context of their local area. Lashley (2007) life. A small but growing number of tourists, has writt en that change in perceptions and mostly independent or in small groups, have practices of host–guest relations in developing been ‘discovering’ and visiting Viengxay in tourism contexts is an important area for re- the past few years. The locals who inhabit search. Tourism and hospitality development the villages of this area are unaccustomed to in Viengxay is still in the very early stages, but receiving tourists, but it is anticipated that it is expected that visitor fl ows will increase
Anthropology in Action, 19, 3 (2012): 21–36 © Berghahn Books and the Association for Anthropology in Action doi:10.3167/aia.2012.190303 AiA | Wantanee Suntikul
signifi cantly. This article captures the cur- society that receives him or her, especially in rent state of intangible cultural factors at this the case of developing societies. Anthropolo- early stage, and serves as a reference point for gists have studied processes of ‘acculturation’ future policy and development in the area. It through which societies that come into con- provides a benchmark against which future tact through tourism borrow characteristics or evolution in local people’s perception of the practices from one another (Greenwood 1977; nature of their role in tourism in their area can Burns 1999). In the anthropological literature, be compared as tourism develops and as local the relations and interactions that happen in people become accustomed to participating in tourism are oft en seen as being characterized the tourism economy. by segregation and asymmetry (Krippendorf 1986; Nash 1989; MacCannell 2001) and even as a type of imperialism (Turner and Ash 1975). Anthropology and Tourism Host societies develop ‘coping strategies’ (Boissevain 1996) to deal with the infl ux of Because of the multidisciplinary nature of tourists and the accompanying commodifi ca- tourism studies, Crick (1989) has doubted that tion of their culture. Other strains of anthro- it could become a unifi ed fi eld, arguing instead pology see commodifi cation as an agent of that tourism must be studied from a number preservation for cultural traditions (Cohen of perspectives. Among these many relevant 1988). Adams (1996) sees culture as being co- angles of approach to tourism studies, Burns constructed by hosts and visitors in the tour- (1999) remarked on the natural affi nities be- ism relation through their interactions, rather tween tourism as a fi eld of knowledge and an- than as something that existed in ‘authentic’ thropology, in that both deal with issues of form prior to tourism contacts (Dicks 2003). human culture and dynamics. An anthropo- Recent anthropological studies in tourism logical approach is particularly cogent in gain- have investigated issues such as cultural sur- ing an understanding of tourism, which tends vival as it relates to tourist host societies’ rights to deal with the interfacing of diff erent cul- to self-determination (McIntosh 1999) and the tures through the interactions of hosts and eff ects of the commodifi cation of culture on lo- guests (Nash 1981; Burns and Holden 1995). cal identities (Medina 2003). As cited in Nash (1996), the original applica- The following section examines in more tion of anthropological concepts to the study detail the particularities of the relationship of tourism has been att ributed to Nuñez’s 1963 between hosts and guests in the tourism and study of tourism in rural Mexico. The growth hospitality context. of anthropological studies in tourism has par- alleled the increase in global tourism over the past fi ft y years (Holden 2005), especially to the The Concept of Hospitality less-developed countries in which anthropolo- gists tend to work (Nash 1996). The cultural The relationship between host and guest is cen- practice of tourism has been associated with tral to the concept of hospitality. ‘Traditional’ post-modernism (Urry 1990) and thus linked cultures associate the host–guest relationship with the discourses of post-modernity within with diff erent degrees and types of obligations, anthropology. while modern societies are less likely to see ‘Culture’ is of course a central concern of hospitality as a matt er of social duty and more anthropology. The tourist becomes an ‘agent of as an economic and commercially institution- contact between cultures’ (Nash 1989: 37) who alised activity. The concept of a ‘hospitality in- can also be an agent for cultural change in the dustry’ and use of the words ‘guest’ and ‘host’ 22 | Commercializing Hospitality | AiA in such commercial contexts is seen by some as tality typically has both commercial and socio- paradoxical or ironic (Heal 1990; Burn 1999) cultural aspects, both of which have been and later Smith and Brent (2001) have edited receiving increasing interest recently (Brother- volumes investigating the nature of the host– ton 1999; Brotherton and Wood 2000, Lashley guest relationship in tourism within diff erent 2000; Lashley and Morrison 2000). This dual cultural contexts, and the impacts of these nature can lead to confl icts in the aims and relations on various host societies. Telfer (2000) values at play in the practice of hospitality, es- identifi es three types of hospitality: that of- pecially from the position of the hosts (Selwyn fered to one’s friends, that off ered to members 2000; Telfer 2000). Of primary interest in this of one’s wider social circle, and ‘good Samari- article is the notion of hospitality as a specifi c tan’ hospitality off ered to strangers in need. discourse by which relations between locals Though the off ering of hospitality originated and tourists, who take the roles of hosts and as a private domestic matt er, the same word guests, are framed. King (1995) has shown that has come to be used to refer to the selling of hospitality is a cultural practice embodied in a similar amenities as a commercial service (Wal- society’s customs and rules. Hospitality takes ton 2000). Tourism can thus be conceptualised diff erent guises in diff erent situations, and as ‘commercialised’ or ‘industrialised’ hospi- evolves within a society over time (Gray and tality (Leiper 1979). While acknowledging an Ligouri 1980; Wood 1994). This evolution has apparent contradiction in the use of the same been described in terms of an increasing shift term to refer to a freely off ered act of generos- towards the commercial aspect of hospitality ity in a domestic context and a commodity and away from the cultural (Greenwood 1977), sold for monetary profi t, the distinction is not or as a transition from a native culture to an always clear-cut. For instance, Telfer (2000) emergent tourism culture (Cohen 1996). fi nds that a commercial operator off ering gen- Hospitality relations are oft en characterised erous service and reasonable prices, with a by contact and interaction between people real concern for the comfort and enjoyment of from diff erent cultures who might otherwise her guests, can without irony be called ‘hospi- never meet. Through the provision of not just a table’. Distinctions between commercial and place to stay but also a venue for intercultural non-commercial practices are not a priori and contact between hosts and guests (as well as are constantly being negotiated (Hochschild between guests and other guests), the ‘life- 2003; Hultman and Cederholm 2009). The per- style values’ of rural host societies become the formance of hospitality relations can serve to ‘tourism values’ that are marketed to and con- reaffi rm existing societal structures and prac- sumed by predominantly urban tourists (Hult- tices, but can also transform such structures man and Cederholm 2009: 128). In assuming and practices (Selwyn 2000). the role of guests, tourists become temporary Hospitality in tourism has been charac- participants in the host society. As a side-eff ect terised as a type of ‘commercial friendship’ of the host–guest contact that occurs in such (Lashley and Morrison 2000). Lashley (2000) relations, hosts may exhibit a temporary ‘phe- distinguished three diff erent areas of hos- notypic’ ‘cultural drift ’ in host behaviour while pitality studies: addressing hospitality as a hosting guests, but sustained or repeated con- socio-cultural phenomenon, as a set of domes- tact of this type can lead to a ‘genotypic’ shift tic practices and as a commercial endeavour, that implies alterations in the base values of respectively. These three categories are not the host society (Burns 1999: 103). mutually exclusive and refer to diff erent as- Several authors have writt en on various pects of hospitality rather than three distinct ways in which the perceptions of local people categories of hospitality. The practice of hospi- regarding their identities, spatial concepts and
| 23 AiA | Wantanee Suntikul
social ideals are aff ected by their involve- economy of exchange, in which accommoda- ment in the tourism industry (Crang 1994; tion is off ered in exchange for tangible (mon- DiDomenico and Lynch 2007; Sheringham etary or other material gain) or intangible and Daruwalla 2007). A report on tourism and (making friends, enjoying company) benefi t hospitality in Ngadha, Flores, Indonesia (Cole for the host. Burgess (1982) sees hospitality re- 2007) found that the local hosts in this village lations in terms of economies of gift exchange society valued tourists’ visits for the cultural (Mauss 1967); and non-reciprocal motives, contact and excitement brought to the vil- motivated by self-interest on the part of the lage whereas tourist guests valued the exotic host, such as a wish to gain favour with others experience of participating for a short while or satisfy one’s vanity by showing off . Tucker in the life of the village. The practice of home- (2003) fi nds that both hosts and guests in the stay tourism in rural Turkey has changed the bed and breakfast industry of New Zealand’s rhythm of domestic life, but the conservative South Island are primarily motivated by the customs of the area mean that tourists inter- social contact in a domestic sett ing that such face almost exclusively with male members accommodation involves, and in exchange for of the host society, minimizing the social and this contract are willing to enter into implicit cultural exchange benefi ts realised by women contracts of appropriate behaviour that are (Van Broeck 2001). Wallace (2001) describes more restrictive, but also more rewarding for the development of tourism at Lake Balaton in such hosts and guests, than those in conven- Hungary as an ongoing process of negotiation tional hotels or guest houses. In other contexts, between hosts and guests, through which a though, some local people see the role of host ‘cultural defi nition’ of the tourist destination in tourism as intrinsically demeaning, as in the is constructed. early twentieth-century development of tour- Cohen (1996) has remarked that the fi rst ism in rural Norway (Pujik 2001). tourists to an area will oft en be treated as guests Selwyn (2000) remarks on the obligatory in the local society’s host–guest tradition, but nature of hospitality in the traditions of many that as tourists become more commonplace cultures, proposing that hospitality plays an and invasive, they become increasingly un- important part in the growth and evolution of welcome. The practice of hospitality becomes societies. The idea of the off ering of hospitality less a custom and more a commercial practice. as a duty is a component of the societal code of As the level of tourism increases, so does the many ‘traditional’ societies, involving issues of potential for resentment and irritation towards honour and duty (Cornwallis 1694; Heal 1990), tourists among local people. This has been ar- but tends to become much less prevalent as a ticulated by Doxey (1975) in his ‘Irridex’ scale. society undergoes processes of modernisation. As local people become more jaded and even The appearance of increasing numbers of tour- resentful towards tourists, the social incentive ists in an area and the emergence of commer- for hospitality is expected to weaken, and fi - cial practices of hospitality have been noted to nancial gain tends to gain in importance as a aff ect a host society’s ideas of the relationship motivator. between hospitality and duty (Lashley 2007). Telfer (2000: 42–4) has distinguished be- In ‘homestay’ situations, which characterise tween three categories of motivating factors many such nascent tourism environments, the in the provision of hospitality. These include distinction between private and public, com- ‘other-regarding motives’ characterised by a mercial and non-commercial becomes blurred, wish to bring benefi t to others, whether out as the domestic sphere becomes a business of a sense of duty or compassion; ‘reciprocal site or ‘commercial home’ (Lynch and Mac- motives’ which see hospitality in terms of an Whannell 2000; Darke and Gurney 2000; Di 24 | Commercializing Hospitality | AiA
Domenico and Lynch 2007). Even in devel- oped tourism contexts, where conventional commercial accommodation such as hotels are available, ‘homestay’ and ‘bed and breakfast’ markets are sustained by tourists who value the personal contact with local people and the insights into local domestic life that such op- tions allow (Pearce 1990).
Tourism in Viengxay
The greater Viengxay area, which includes the town and the 128 scatt ered villages sur- rounding it, has a population of just over 30,000. Houaphanh is one of the poorest prov- inces in Laos. During the U.S.–Vietnam War of 1963–1973, Laos was the site of a parallel ‘secret war’. The country was split into two camps, with the royalist troops supported by the United States controlling the lowlands, and the revolutionary army controlling the north. Figure 1: Entrance to hospital cave As the Laotian communist headquarters, Vi- engxay was a key U.S. bombing target. To of the remoteness of the area and the bad avoid the bombardment, some 23,000 people state of the access road, tourist traffi c volume hid in more than 480 natural limestone caves is very low. In 2005, only 459 foreign tourists in Viengxay for over nine years. During this visited the district, and 2,180 Laotians visited time, the caves were used as a ‘hidden city’ in the fi rst six months of that year (Pontin and also as the headquarters of the communist 2005: 8). Besides the caves, the area’s main at- Pathet Lao. Many caves had specifi c functions tractions are the natural, unspoiled beauty of such as a school, a theatre, government offi ces, the mountainous landscape and the ‘ethnic’ a supermarket, a temple, as well as a hospital villages (see Figure 2). It is primarily att ractive where the injured were treated by Cuban doc- to independent travellers and small groups tors (see Figure 1). Aft er 1973, the caves were looking for adventurous travel ‘off the beaten abandoned and it was not until the late 1990s path’. However, a recently opened highway that a few caves were re-opened for visitors, and border crossing to Vietnam at Nam Meo, under the control of the Kaysone Phomvihane with Lao visa-on-arrival service, as well as Memorial Tour Cave Offi ce, named aft er the plans for a local airport, are signs that the area Laotian revolutionary leader and, later, Prime is becoming more accessible. The United Na- Minister of Laos, Kaysone Phomvihane, who tions World Tourism Organisation (UNWTO) had been a resident of the caves during the is supporting pro-poor tourism projects in the war. Because of this signifi cant historical fea- area to try to optimise the benefi ts of the ex- ture, the caves at Viengxay were declared a pected development of tourism to Viengxay’s Laotian National Heritage Site in 2005. poor inhabitants. Members of the Pacifi c Asia Viengxay is far from the major tourism Travel Association (PATA), SNV (Stichting routes and destinations of the region. Because Nederlandse Vrij willigers or ‘Foundation of
| 25 AiA | Wantanee Suntikul
Figure 2: The Viengxay landscape
Netherlands Volunteers’), a Dutch develop- ing international press coverage (Rogers 2010), ment organisation, and the Lao National Tour- indicating that the place has been ‘discovered’ ism Administration (LNTA), plan to develop by the international tourism circuit. the Viengxay caves as a tourist destination and The LNTA aims to include the Viengxay’s a World Peace site. caves in the Heritage Route, which links the The fi rst press release promoting Viengxay World Heritage Site of Luang Prabang to Vi- as a tourism destination was issued on 6 engxay and the curious ‘Plain of Jars’ archaeo- March 2007. From 2006 to 2007, the number of logical site in Xieng Khouang. A November domestic visitors to the caves increased from 2009 visit of two tour groups totalling about 4,385 to 11,355 and international visitors in- thirty people was the largest single-day infl ux creased from 1,355 to 1,860 (although domestic of international tourists to Viengxay up to that visitor numbers fell to 7,349 the following year, time (Rogers 2010), but larger and more regu- with international visitors increasing margin- lar tourist fl ows are foreseen. According to ally to 1,875) (Rogers 2010). In 2007, the PATA the Tourism Sector Strategy published by the Foundation also awarded a grant to the Kay- Asian Development Bank, within ten to fi ft een sone Phomvihane Memorial Tour Cave Offi ce years the number of tourists visiting Houa- to support the research and development of phanh could reach about 100,000 per year and an audio tour (Mekong Tourism Offi ce 2007), the tourism industry could bring an annual which was put into operation in 2009, receiv- income of US$10 to 18 million. The vision for
26 | Commercializing Hospitality | AiA
Houaphanh is to become one of the top three Viengxay. Field studies were done in thirteen most visited provinces in Laos (Asian Devel- villages in Viengxay during 2006. Focus-group opment Bank 2005). In 2005, there were only interviews and observations were conducted 3,175 tourist arrivals in Houaphanh (Lao Na- in each of the villages (see Figure 3), with the tional Tourism Administration 2006). goals of determining the current state of in- volvement of the local population of the vil- lages in hospitality and tourism, as well as Research Context and Methodology villagers’ perception of tourism and tourists, and their aspirations and apprehensions re- The results presented in this article stem from garding the future of tourism development in a programme of research undertaken by the their district. School of Hotel and Tourism Management of Tourism is a new phenomenon in Viengxay, the Hong Kong Polytechnic University in col- and remains small-scale and low-impact. The laboration with the SNV which provided fa- practices and terminology of tourism are still cilities and non-fi nancial resources for the unfamiliar to the local population, necessitat- conducting of the research, as well as estab- ing a good deal of explanation and interpreta- lishing contacts and organising access for the tion on the part of the author, who is fl uent in researchers. The research involved baseline Laotian, when trying to discuss impressions monitoring and the investigation of the po- and expectations of tourism in the context of tential for pro-poor tourism development in focus groups. During the fi eld studies, the
Figure 3: A focus group at work. The author is fourth from the right.
| 27 AiA | Wantanee Suntikul
author noted that participants referred to con- overnight rather than returning to the vil- cepts and practices of hospitality within the lage, because the rice fi elds and their houses local culture as a way of appropriating tourism are oft en far apart from each other. Despite into the realm of the familiar and of construct- having made prior arrangements, on several ing a point of reference for the relationship occasions the research team arrived in a vil- between themselves as ‘hosts’ and tourists as lage and no villagers were present, except the their ‘guests’. This article represents a synthe- village leader. In this case, the village leader sis of these insights. Except where explicitly was asked to gather a group of participants for cited otherwise, all the insights mentioned a rescheduled meeting at a later date. below come from observations, conversations The focus group interviews were conducted and interviews in the course of the fi eld stud- in Laotian by the author and with a Laotian co- ies in Viengxay. moderator who ensured that all the questions Primary data collection began with a pilot were covered. Each interview took between 75 study in May 2006 when semi-structured in- and 90 minutes. The focus-group discussions terviews were conducted in three villages sur- took the form of meetings with representatives rounding the Viengxay Caves. This method was of diff erent social categories. The researcher supplemented by on-site non-participant ob- aimed to get a balance of genders and age servation by the authors. From the pilot study groups in each of the villages, as well as to it became clear that the villagers interviewed ensure that members of the village committ ee had no concept of the tourism industry and were part of each focus group. However, there that certain questions were therefore too com- were more men than women members in all plex for them to understand. This situation is groups except in Sammakkhixay, a village of understandable, as tourism hardly exists in the disabled people. The focus groups met in local villages. Therefore, the questions designed for homes, temples, village halls or schools. the second fi eld study were carefully formed so that the villagers could more easily understand. The results of the pilot study formed the Host–Guest Relationship basis and preparation for a second fi eld study, which was carried out in June and July 2006 Tourists are still a novelty in these remote when semi-structured interviews were con- villages in Viengxay, and tourism and hence ducted in thirteen villages surrounding Vien- commercial hospitality as a practice is foreign gxay town, which are expected to be aff ected to the way of life of the local people. Travel for by future tourism development. The villages pleasure is beyond their fi nancial means, and studied have populations ranging from 202 to the motivation to seek out stimulation from 880 people. The focus groups were composed contact with strange cultures and unfamiliar of between ten and seventeen adult villagers. situations is cryptic to them. Villagers know According to Evmorfopoulou (n.d.) four to what tourists like to do when they come to twelve participants is the ideal range of sizes the villages (take pictures, look at nature and for focus groups. Morgan (1988) suggested an culture, experience the local traditions), but over-recruitment of 20 per cent to compensate the ‘why’ of tourism remains a category of cul- for non-att endees, but non-att endance was tural experience for which they have no point far greater in some of the Viengxay focus of reference. groups. June and July is rice-planting season Though the point of view of the tourist may in Viengxay and this posed an obstacle to the be a mystery to the villagers of Viengxay, the gathering of villagers for interviews. During point of view of the host is not. The fi rst in- this season, many villagers stay in their fi elds clination when dealing with tourists in their 28 | Commercializing Hospitality | AiA villages seems to be to put them into the cat- pant said, ‘Sometime we showed the tourists egory of ‘guests’. For example, one participant the cave and did not ask for money’. The locals said ‘We should welcome tourists, be friendly are aware that the caves and their ethnic tradi- and generous to them, and take care of them. tions are unique distinguishing characteristics If tourists do not mind, they can always stay of their district, and members of nearly every with us’. One distinguishing consequence of focus group said that to have foreigners come this perception is that locals oft en do not think from so far away to see their area is a source of about asking for money for the services ren- pride, even if locals do not understand the mo- dered to tourists. The above-quoted partici- tivations of the tourists. These are the examples pant stated, ‘A few tourists stayed with some for the impression of the villagers: ‘Tourists villagers before. The villagers gave them food come to take a look at the caves … maybe. We also and didn’t ask for money’. Another vil- don’t really know why they come … maybe lager recounted that ‘Some tourists came to come and take pictures?’; ‘Tourists come to visit the cave and were hungry, they asked if we us, we want to make the world know about have food for sell. I didn’t sell food to them, us’; ‘We are happy and proud to see tourists. but gave them for free’. They see the provision Tourism can make our place famous’; ‘We are of sustenance and shelter to strangers in their happy and proud. Even though we are very far district as a matt er of duty. As one focus-group away, they still come to see our place’. Most of member stated, ‘It is our custom that when the participants said they are happy and proud we have strangers visit, we always take care to see tourists come to visit Viengxay, despite of them’. A participant in another village said its remoteness. This demonstration of pride of that he feels sorry for tourists when he sees place by showing guests around one’s home them looking around, and feels compelled to area is another familiar aspect of hospitality in off er them something to eat and drink. In his the host–guest social relationship. words, ‘I saw tourists waiting for a bus, look- As discussed, the host–guest relationship ing tired and lost. So I off ered them food and implies a code of etiquett e for both parties, drink. I just feel sorry for them as we know and the pleasure that the Viengxay villagers that transportation here is not good’. Even derive from playing the host should not be when discussing the potential of tourism for interpreted as subservience. Guests are ex- alleviating poverty – a topic on which villagers pected to respect the customs and mores of are well-versed – focus-group members admit the host’s culture as well. In some of the focus that they do give food and drink to tourists in groups, annoyance was expressed at tour- the village, but do not ask for or expect money ists who transgress these boundaries in some in return. The compulsion to off er assistance way, either by going to places where they do and sustenance to strangers – even those with not belong, taking pictures of inappropriate whom one can scarcely communicate and subjects or of local people without asking, or whose reasons for passing through one’s local- when they are doing manual work or bathing ity one does not comprehend – indicates the in the river. Most villagers expressed senti- extent to which Telfer’s (2000) ‘good Samari- ments of this type. For instance, one villager tan’ mode of hospitality is ingrained in the lo- said, ‘When tourists take pictures, we would cal societal code. like to know the purpose. We would like to ask In addition to food, drink and accommoda- why they take pictures, but we can not speak tion, Viengxay villagers also said that they English’. Another villager said ‘We don’t want have shown tourists around the local att rac- them to take pictures when we take a shower tions, most notably the caves, without asking or when we work in the rice fi elds. They might for any compensation in return. One partici- want to take our pictures and criticise us’.
| 29 AiA | Wantanee Suntikul
Addressing Cultural Differences vide. A participant mentioned, ‘We would like to develop tourism, but the problem is we Though contact with tourists is still a relatively do not know if we could provide them what new and small-scale phenomenon in Viengxay, they expect such as food and a place to stay. local people’s att itudes towards tourists are al- Maybe it is not up to their standard’. Diff erent ready undergoing a signifi cant transformation respondents expressed wishes to learn how since the isolated conditions and xenophobic to cook the kind of food that tourists like to atmosphere of the not-too-distant past. One eat, make the types of handicraft s that they focus-group participant revealed, ‘When tour- like to buy as souvenirs and provide the kind ists started to come in 1999, we thought they of accommodation standard in which they might be spies. When they asked where the feel comfortable. Despite no prior knowledge caves are, we did not tell them because we of the tourism and service industry, the vil- were scared for them to fi nd out about our lagers nonetheless intuitively understand the strategic places, but now we have no fear’. As need for meeting tourists’ requirements. They in the case of Sumba, Indonesia, where a his- acknowledge the importance of hospitality tory of Dutch slave trade led local people to training, with statements such as ‘It is impos- perceive tourist photography as a sinister and sible to run without training. We want to learn predatory act (Hoskins 2002), the traumatic everything’; ‘If we don’t have any training, and period of the secret war instilled a deep-seated when we cook food, tourists might not eat it’; mistrust of foreigners arriving unannounced. and ‘We need to learn more about agriculture This att itude is changing, through increas- and raising animals so that we don’t need to ing contact with foreigners visiting for peace- buy vegetables or meat from outside to pre- ful, if cryptic, reasons. All focus groups in the pare food for tourists’. Viengxay villages reported that they valued Whilst accepting the diff erences between and welcomed current and future tourism tourists and themselves, members of most fo- development in their area as a way to gain cus groups were concerned with maintaining contact and communicate with people from a clear division between the ‘two cultures’ and other cultures. As one villager said, ‘Cultural were apprehensive about their younger gen- exchange and learning new knowledge are im- eration being tempted to emulate some aspects portant. It is meaningful because we can learn of the lifestyles of visitors. Some saw a need and know about them and understand their to strengthen the cultural education of their culture’. However, there is also an expectation children to protect them from what could be of reciprocal guest etiquett e. One participant termed ‘cultural contamination’. When asked stated, ‘Tourists should also follow our tradi- if they are aware of the potential negative im- tion and our culture’ when staying as guests pacts of tourism that could have a bad infl u- in the village, but this is not to imply that the ence on their culture and their children, people villagers expect tourists to completely adopt from all thirteen villages agreed that they the local way of life while they are guests in must build awareness about their culture in their villages. their children. King et al. (1993) have noted a There was a general acknowledgement tendency in tourism situations for hosts to ac- among the focus-group participants that tour- cept and accommodate the cultural norms of ists and the villagers themselves represent two tourists, while taking measures to protect their separate cultures with diff erent needs and own culture from the infl uences of tourists’ behavioural patt erns. They see understanding cultures. Statements include: ‘We are diff erent and accommodating these diff erent needs as people, dress and eat diff erently. However, we part of the hospitality they would like to pro- must build awareness in our children, and tell 30 | Commercializing Hospitality | AiA them that tourists are from foreign cultures feed the society without reliance on outside and that we have our own culture’; ‘Nega- sources, villagers do not think of themselves as tive social impact might happen. We need to impoverished (Suntikul et al. 2009). preserve our culture and tradition’; ‘Teenagers Monetary economics therefore does not might copy the Western culture, but we need to play a great role in the lives of the inhabitants tell them that our culture is diff erent than that of these villages and, when asked, most also of the Westerners. We need to build awareness. do not conceive of the goods and services that Our country is developing and a lot of people they could off er tourists/guests as having an are coming in and we are going out, so we economic value. One should not see this as a might have problems with drugs and prosti- self-disparaging att itude. Rather, it is indica- tution, maybe tourists want to go out with a tive of the fact that money is not currently the married local woman, so she might leave her central paradigm of value used in their society. husband’. Hospitality is perceived in terms of the social economy of the local society, rather than a monetary economy. However, the vocabulary Hospitality Economics of the host–guest relationship and the seller– consumer relationship mixed freely in the The initial satisfaction in providing hospital- focus-group discussions, indicating that the ity to tourists had more to do with the locals’ present may be the crux of a transition from pride of place and desire for cultural contact the conception of hospitality as a social act to than any expectation of fi nancial gain, but this that of hospitality as an economic sector. is by nature only a temporary situation. All Some of the focus-group members showed focus groups expressed an awareness of the po- indications of beginning to integrate these tential of tourism development to bring money two interpretations of hospitality into their to their village and spoke of aspirations to learn practices. An earlier-quoted participant who how to reap the economic benefi ts of tourism. had given food to tourists for free, further Several villagers saw the income from tourism explained his action by saying that this expres- as a means to improve and preserve their heri- sion of goodwill might encourage the tourist to tage sites. For instance, one villager stated, ‘We come back another time and give some money. have the hospital cave. We are very happy that This scenario avoids framing this relation as tourists are interested in our historical sites. We an economic transaction and instead depicts always want to improve and conserve the hos- it as two reciprocal acts of goodwill and kind- pital cave, but have no money. The only thing ness, with each participant giving the other we can do is to get rid of the grass along the that which he has and the other lacks. Another path. If we could improve the site, we might said that he refused to ask for money for food get more tourists and the income from the tour- and homestay accommodation as a matt er of ists could help alleviating poverty’. pride, but knew that tourists would pay with- Whilst not averse to opportunities to gain out being asked. The author asked whether monetary income, the local people of Viengxay that tourist paid before they left , the villager do not perceive this goal as a matt er of urgency had big smile on his face and stated ‘No, but or top priority. Although they subsist on what maybe they come back next time and they might be considered by outsiders to be very might give some money. They might tell their meagre material means, their own culture’s friends about our hospitality’. conception of well-being is based on abun- Similarities can be discerned between the dance of rice rather than possession of money. values at play in the hospitality relationship in Thus, with reliable and suffi cient rice crops to Viengxay and those described in Cole’s (2007)
| 31 AiA | Wantanee Suntikul
report on tourism and hospitality in Ngadha, fect on the nature of the perceived host–guest Flores, Indonesia. The villagers do not expect relationship and thus the nature of hospitality money in exchange for their hospitality but in the villages of Viengxay. feel that tourists should be obliged to ‘fi t in’, It would be premature to off er a prognosis and become annoyed when tourists transgress regarding the path that this development will their local customs, for instance by declining follow in the specifi c case of Viengxay. The re- to eat food off ered to them. It could be hy- lationship between motivations for hospitality pothesised that such patt erns are characteristic and the particulars of the practice of hospital- of relations and expectations in hospitality in ity in a given context is doubtless a complex nascent tourism cultures. one. At present, this research indicates that among the motivators for hospitality for the villagers of Viengxay are pride of place, desire Issues in the Future Development for cultural contact, curiosity and local tradi- of Hospitality in Viengxay tions of host–guest relations (Suntikul et al. 2010). The future trajectory could be towards Tourism is still in the very early stages of devel- more economic motivation, but this need not opment in Viengxay. The predominant type of be contradictory to the initial motivators. Ac- tourist in the area is independent and appre- cording to focus-group participants one of the ciative and sensitive of the natural and cultural reasons for seeking income from tourism is to landscape of the area. Tourism is low-impact fund the preservation of historical sites such as and small-scale. The local people’s concept the caves, or to develop local handicraft s and and practice of hospitality is no doubt heavily encourage the continuation of ‘traditions’. conditioned by all of these factors, and can be Tactics for avoiding friction caused by cul- expected to evolve as the novelty eff ect of tour- turally inappropriate guest behaviour are part ism wears off and diff erent types and scales and parcel of the skills of hosts in more devel- of tourism emerge in the area. The potential oped tourism destinations, such as the prac- advent of higher-impact mass tourism, tourist tice of New Zealand bed and breakfast hosts enclaves from which local people are excluded, telling guests amusing stories of past guests’ and development of tourism infrastructure behaviour as to establish an understanding of that compromises the local cultural and natu- accepted norms of behaviour while establish- ral heritage could lead Viengxay natives to ing a friendly mood of interaction (Tucker perceive tourists in a diff erent way. At present, 2003). However, more obstacles must be over- tourists come alone or in small groups to expe- come before this is possible in a context such as rience the local culture as guests, whereas fu- Viengxay where the language barriers, social ture larger tour groups may be more intrusive, distance and cultural dissimilarities between less sensitive and less likely to stay in the very guest and host are so pronounced. basic facilities off ered by the villages. Today The host–guest relationship is usually a the villages are the providers of all available transient one, with oft en litt le chance of long- amenities for tourists whereas future tour- term or future relationships. As hospitality ism development may bring about a situation moves from the realm of tradition and etiquett e where the villages become sites to be visited into the realm of economics, there is a greater and consumed by tourists, who would then propensity for hosts to exploit the relationship retreat to their hotels. This is not the context in for maximum gain, even through dishonesty which to discuss the economic implications of or crime. Cohen (1996) remarks on this phe- these and other possible developments, but it nomenon and identifi es ‘professionalism’, or is to be expected that they would have an ef- ‘staging’ of a culture for tourists as a strategy 32 | Commercializing Hospitality | AiA for resolving the dual nature of hospitality but will have a transformative eff ect on others. and thus diff using potential confl icts. One det- Future developments in the practice of hospi- rimental consequence that can be anticipated tality in these villages will depend, in part, on is that the local people could begin to perceive the evolution of how local people perceive and their culture as a commodity to be put on show defi ne what they have to gain from playing for fi nancial gain, leading to a staging of ‘folk the host in this relationship. These perceptions hospitality’ for the sake of tourists that compro- will, in turn, be largely infl uenced by multiple mises the authenticity of ‘traditional’ practices. factors such as local people’s success in nego- tiating an acceptable and sustainable balance between preservation of core cultural values Conclusion and acquisition of new cultural gains; reliance on currency to acquire materials necessary The dual nature of the concept of hospitality, to accommodate tourists; the potential emer- as a social obligation and as an economic ac- gence of materialist values through increased tivity, need not be seen as representing polar access to money and the demonstration of af- opposites. Diff erent practices of hospitality con- fl uent lifestyles by tourists. tain elements of both of these aspects. Even in This research has explored the ways in the early stage of development present in Vien- which the host–guest relationship is being gxay, locals express their aspirations regard- negotiated within a specifi c cultural and de- ing hospitality both in terms of cultural norms velopmental context. This study of Viengxay, and in terms or economic gain and develop- Laos, has demonstrated that blunt distinctions mental improvement. Consequently, it can be between commercial and cultural understand- expected that the future development of hospi- ings of hospitality oversimplify the relation tality in the district of Viengxay will continue and mask the complexity and malleability of to be characterised by a negotiation between hospitality practices. diff erent motivations and expectations. This The hospitality relationship can be viewed study has identifi ed ways in which Viengxay as a type of intercultural communication, and locals are balancing concerns for cultural in- as such has the likelihood of bringing about tegrity and preservation against a desire for change in a culture, as contact with and under- economic bett erment and curiosity about the standing of other cultures intensify. As contact outside world in the forms of hospitality that with visitors from foreign cultures becomes they practice, and the way that they perceive more commonplace, and the exoticism of early their own roles as hosts within the hospitality contact wears off , the relation between guests relationship. and hosts in this relationship may also change, The fact that the words ‘guest’ and ‘host’ are possibly breaking down cultural barriers and used in common parlance to describe the key making it more diffi cult cognitively to separate roles in all types of hospitality relations is in- the local culture from the tourism culture. As dicative of the common root of these relations ‘understanding’ increases, many of the current in economically dominated as well as cul- motivations for locals in the host–guest rela- turally dominated guises of hospitality. This tionship may also change, although it would commonality of concepts has provided the be premature to conclude whether this change villagers of Viengxay with a point of reference would be primarily for the bett er or for the for their relations with tourists in these early worse. days of tourism development in their district. The ongoing performance of hospitality rela- Wantanee Suntikul is Assistant Professor in Tour- tions will likely reinforce some cultural forms ism Planning and Development at the Institute
| 33 AiA | Wantanee Suntikul
for Tourism Studies in Macao, China. She received pitality: A Social Lens, (ed.) C. Lashley, P. Lynch her MSc and PhD from the University of Surrey. and A. Morrison (Amsterdam: Elsevier), 61–72. Besides teaching and researching, she has also Cornwallis, H. (1694), Set on the Great Pot: A Ser- mon on Hospitality (London: The Sons of the been involved in several tourism-related consul- Prophets). tancy projects in Southeast Asia. Her core research Crang, P. (1994), ‘It’s Showtime: On the Workplace interests and expertise are in the political, social Geographies of Display in a Restaurant in and environmental aspects of tourism planning Southeast England’, Environment and Planning and development and poverty alleviation. She is D: Society and Space 12, 675–704. the co-editor of the books Tourism and Political Crick, M. (1989), ‘Representations of International Tourism in the Social Sciences: Sun, Sex, Sights, Change (2010) and Tourism and War (2012). Savings, and Servility’, Annual Review of Anthro- E-mail: wantanee@ift .edu.mo pology, 18: 307–44. Darke, J. and C. Gurney (2000), ‘Putt ing up? Gen- der, Hospitality and Performance’, in In Search References of Hospitality: Theoretical Perspectives and Debates, (ed.) C. Lashley and A. Morrison (Oxford: But- Adams, V. (1996), Tigers of the Snow and Other Vir- terworth-Heinemann), 77–99. tual Sherpas: An Ethnography of Himalayan En- Dicks, B. (2003), Culture on Display: The Production counters (Princeton: Princeton University Press). of Contemporary Visitability (Maidenhead: Open Asian Development Bank (2005), Greater Mekong University Press). Subregion Tourism Sector Strategy (Manila: Asian DiDomenico, M. and P. Lynch (2007), ‘Commercial Development Bank). Home Enterprises: Identity, Home and Sett ing’, Boissevain, J. (1996), Coping With Tourists: European in Hospitality: A Social Lens, (ed.) C. Lashley, P. Reactions to Mass Tourism (Oxford: Berghahn Lynch and A. Morrison (Amsterdam: Elsevier), Books). 117–28. Brotherton, B. (1999), ‘Hospitality Management Doxey, G. (1975), ‘A Causation Theory of Visitor- Research: Towards the Future?’, in The Handbook resident Irritants: Methodology and Research of Contemporary Hospitality Management Research, Inferences’, in Proceedings of the Travel Research (ed.) B. Brotherton (Chichester: John Wiley), Association 6th Annual Conference (San Diego, 531–43. CA: Travel Research Association), 195–8. Brotherton, B. and R. Wood (2000), ‘Hospitality Evmorfopoulou, K. (n.d), ‘Focus Group Methodol- and Hospitality Management’, in In Search of ogy for the MADAM Project’,
34 | Commercializing Hospitality | AiA
Hultman, J. and E. Cederholm, E. (2009), ‘The update-newslett er/2007-archive/> (accessed 17 Boundary Work of Commercial Friendship’, May 2012). paper presented to the Kultur~Natur: Konferens Morgan, D.L. (1988), Focus Groups as Qualitative för kulturstudier i Sverige, 15–17 June, Norr- Research (London: Sage). köping, Sweden. Nash, D. (1981), ‘Tourism as an Anthropological King, A. (1995), “What is Hospitality?’, Interna- Subject’, Current Anthropology 22, no. 5: 461–81. tional Journal of Hospitality Management 14, nos. Nash, D. (1989), ‘Tourism as a Form of Imperial- 3–4: 219–34. ism’, in Hosts and Guests: The Anthropology of King, B., A. Pizam and A. Milman (1993), ‘Social Tourism, 2nd edn, (ed.) V. L. Smith (Philadel- Impacts of Tourism: Host Perceptions’, Annals phia: University of Pennsylvania Press), 36–52. of Tourism Research 20, no. 4: 650–65. Nash, D. (1996), Anthropology of Tourism (Oxford: Krippendorf, J. (1986), ‘Tourism in the System of Pergamon). Industrial Society’, Annals of Tourism Research Pearce, P. L. (1990), ‘Farm Tourism in New Zea- 13, no. 4: 517–32. land: A Social Situation Analysis’, Annals of Lao National Tourism Administration (2006), Sta- Tourism Research 17, no. 3: 337–52. tistical Report on Tourism in Laos (Lao, PDR: Lao Pontin, J. (2005), Viengxay Cave Sites: Heritage and National Tourism Administration, Planning and Tourism Potential (The Hague/Lao PDR: Sticht- Cooperation Department Statistics Unit). ing Nederlandse Vrij willigers). Lashley, C. (2000), ‘Towards a Theoretical Under- Pujik, R. (2001), ‘Tourism in the Fjords and Moun- standing’, in In Search of Hospitality: Theoretical tains of Western Norway’, in Hosts and Guests Perspectives and Debates, (ed.) C. Lashley and A. Revisited: Tourism Issues of the 21st Century, (eds.) Morrison (Oxford: Butt erworth-Heinemann), V. L. Smith and M. Brent (New York: Cognizant 1–17. Communication Corp.), 175–83. Lashley, C. (2007), ‘Discovering Hospitality: Ob- Rogers, P. (2010), ‘Development Plan for Re- servations from Recent Research’, International opening Viengxay Market Caves’, report Lao Journal of Culture, Tourism and Hospitality Re- National Tourism Administration – Asian search 1, no. 3: 214–26. Development Bank Sustainable Tourism De- Lashley, C. and A. Morrison (eds.) (2000), In Search velopment Project. | 35 AiA | Wantanee Suntikul national Journal of Tourism Research 12, no. 5: ited: Tourism Issues of the 21st Century, (ed.) V. L. 449–61. Smith and M. Brent (New York: Cognizant Telfer, E. (2000), ‘The Philosophy of Hospitable- Communication Corp.), 161–74. ness’, in In Search of Hospitality: Theoretical Per- Wallace, J. M. (2001), ‘Putt ing “Culture” into Sus- spectives and Debates, (ed.) C. Lashley and A. tainable Tourism: Negotiating Tourism at Lake Morrison (Oxford: Butt erworth-Heinemann), Balaton, Hungary’, in Hosts and Guests Revisited: 38–55. Tourism Issues of the 21st Century, (ed.) V. L. Tucker, H. (2003), ‘The Host-guest Relationship Smith and M. Brent (New York: Cognizant and Its Implications in Rural Tourism’, in New Communication Corp.), 298–314. Directions in Rural Tourism, (ed.) D. Hall, L. Rob- Walton, J. (2000), ‘The Hospitality Trades: A Social erts and M. Mitchell (Burlington, VT: Ashgate), History’, in In Search of Hospitality: Theoretical 80–9. Perspectives and Debates, (ed.) C. Lashley and Turner, L. and J. Ash (1975), The Golden Hordes: A. Morrison (Oxford: Butt erworth-Heinemann), International Tourism and the Pleasure Periphery 56–76. (London: Constable). Wood, R. (1994), ‘Some Theoretical Perspectives on Urry, J. (1990), The Tourist Gaze (London: Sage Hospitality’, in Tourism: The State of the Art, (ed.) Publication). A. Seaton (Chichester: John Wiley and Sons), Van Broeck, A. M. (2001), ‘Pamukkale: Turkish 737–42. Homestay Tourism’, in Hosts and Guests Revis- 36 |