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Ploysri Porananond

Chiang Mai University, Centre for Asian Tourism Research, Head

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Ploysri Porananond is Head of the Centre for Asian Tourism Research at Chiang Mai University, Thailand and Editor-in-Chief of the Asian Journal of Tourism Research. Her interest focuses on cultural tourism research, as well as tourism and development in Thailand and Southeast Asia. Her publications include “Modernity and Evolution of a Festive Tourism Tradition: The Songkran Festival in Chiang Mai, Thailand” (2008), Rethinking Asian Tourism: Culture, Encounters and Local Response (edited with Victor T. King) (2014), “Tourism and Political Agendas in the Dum Hua Procession in the Songkran Festival” (2014), “Tourism and the Transformation of Ritual Practice with Sand Pagoda in Chiang Mai, Thailand” (2015) and “Khun Tok Dinner: The Transformation of a Lanna Eating Style into a Tourist Attraction in Chiang Mai, Thailand” (2015).
Phone: +66 0892665566
Address: Centre for Asian Tourism Research
Research Admiistration Center
Chiang Mai University
239 Huay Kaew Road, Muang District, Chiang Mai, Thailand

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Papers by Ploysri Porananond

Khun Tok Dinner: The Transformation of a Lanna Eating Style Into a Tourist Attraction in Chiang Mai, Thailand

This paper examines the transformation of the Khun Tok and Lanna cuisine in Chiang Mai, Northern ... more This paper examines the transformation of the Khun Tok and Lanna cuisine in Chiang Mai, Northern Thailand. Khun Tok is a traditional round, low table used for meals of the Lanna people (those who lived in the Northern part of Thailand or Lanna Kingdom in the past). In 1953, the Khun Tok Dinner was then established in the form of a modern party that used the name of the traditional Lanna utensil, Khun Tok, as the title of the party. It was the first time that the Lanna traditional cuisine and Khun Tok appeared in a modern style dinner for upper class people in the city of Chiang Mai. Later, the pattern of the Khun Tok Dinner was used and replicated to host visitors in Chiang Mai by local Buddhist groups. After the establishment of the private tourist business and the Old Chiang Mai Cultural Center, the Khun Tok Dinner was used regularly as a tourist attraction. Later, dancing in traditional costumes was introduced to accompany the meal. With this tourist construction of a traditional...

Rethinking Asian tourism : culture, encounters and local response

Rethinking Asian Tourism addresses some of the latest developments in on-going tourism research i... more Rethinking Asian Tourism addresses some of the latest developments in on-going tourism research in Southeast Asia and the wider Asia region (encompassing, in geographical terms, Thailand, Vietnam, Indonesia, the Philippines, Malaysia, Hong Kong, Japan, and Korea). It examines many of the emerging, as well as established, themes and issues in Asian tourism and promotes the development of critical scholarship within Asia to overcome Anglo-Western ethnocentrism in tourism studies of the region. There is some attention to such familiar concepts as authenticity, commoditisation, culture, heritage, and hosts and guests, but more especially to the diversification of phenomena which traditionally would not have been included within the parameters of tourism studies: retirees and long-stays, gastronomy, family-based leisure, popular culture, and local branding. Above all, the book addresses and develops a conceptual understanding from a multidisciplinary perspective of the character, experie...

Understanding the young middle-class Chinese outbound tourism consumption: A social practice perspective

Tourism Management

Tourism and Monarchy in Southeast Asia Tourism and Monarchy in Southeast Asia

Rethinking Asian tourism : culture, encounters and local response

Rethinking Asian Tourism addresses some of the latest developments in on-going tourism research i... more Rethinking Asian Tourism addresses some of the latest developments in on-going tourism research in Southeast Asia and the wider Asia region (encompassing, in geographical terms, Thailand, Vietnam, Indonesia, the Philippines, Malaysia, Hong Kong, Japan, and Korea). It examines many of the emerging, as well as established, themes and issues in Asian tourism and promotes the development of critical scholarship within Asia to overcome Anglo-Western ethnocentrism in tourism studies of the region. There is some attention to such familiar concepts as authenticity, commoditisation, culture, heritage, and hosts and guests, but more especially to the diversification of phenomena which traditionally would not have been included within the parameters of tourism studies: retirees and long-stays, gastronomy, family-based leisure, popular culture, and local branding. Above all, the book addresses and develops a conceptual understanding from a multidisciplinary perspective of the character, experie...

Heritage and Identity in Contemporary Thailand: Memory, Place and Power by Ross King (review)

Heritage and Identity in Contemporary Thailand is a hard book to review, chiefly because of the d... more Heritage and Identity in Contemporary Thailand is a hard book to review, chiefly because of the difficulty in categorizing it. It is not really a monograph, in spite of Ross King’s being credited as the sole author. All of the chapters are in fact based on dissertations and writings by Thai scholars who are acknowledged accordingly at the beginning of each chapter. The chapters not only utilize content provided by selected Thai scholars but also offer their perspectives. It is precisely this collaboration that means that the volume is not simply another outside gaze at Thailand through a Western lens. At the same time, the manuscript is not an edited collection, since it represents a single narrative — that of King. He admits at times going beyond the task of editing the contributions to the book to the point of rewriting some parts. Accordingly, King acutely displays his own awareness of the impossibility of categorizing the book.

Tourism and Monarchy in Southeast Asia

Journal of Social Issues in Southeast Asia

The Monarch, the Elephant, and Tourism in Chiang Mai, Thailand

This chapter focuses on the influence of the visit of the Siamese monarch on the evolution of the... more This chapter focuses on the influence of the visit of the Siamese monarch on the evolution of the elephant’s role in Chiang Mai. Although elephants were known as carriers for long-distance travel in the past, they were used primarily in the logging industry in Chiang Mai during the colonial period. The visit of King Prajadhipok and the Queen to Chiang Mai in 1926 may be viewed as the starting point in turning elephants into a part of the development of the tourism industry in the city, when the troop of elephants first appeared in Chiang Mai to accompany the King and Queen from the rail station to the inner city. After that the elephant came to be known as the image of Chiang Mai by visitors from outside. This resulted in an increasing demand for wood carvings of elephant figures as souvenirs of Chiang Mai. Later the elephant was adopted as the official symbol of Chiang Mai province. With regard to tourism development in Chiang Mai, the elephant camp was then established as the centre for elephant shows and activities for tourists in Chiang Mai. Among tourism marketing and promotion, more elephant camps were established, then new patterns of elephant shows and activities have been created to entertain tourists who are the major customers of the elephant camps. Besides tourism development and economic benefits, theoretical concepts of place branding, representation, symbolic consumption and tourism, and political-economic change are discussed as factors in the evolution of elephant roles in Chiang Mai. The changing role of elephants in Chiang Mai reflects the political and economic transformation of the city.

TOURISM AND POLITICAL AGENDAS IN THE DUM HUA PROCESSION IN THE SONGKRAN FESTIVAL PLOYSRI PORANANOND

Extensive academic studies have focused on festivals and their political motivation. Carnivals we... more Extensive academic studies have focused on festivals and their political motivation. Carnivals were especially driven by political considerations from the start. What makes a carnival stand out is the manner in which it has been used by both the subordinated groups against government authorities, often to make their cause heard, and the ruling class to suppress the reality of a divided society through the portrayal of a united country of diverse people.

The Songkran Festival in Chiang Mai is similar to a carnival, due to the fact that its performance is politically driven. The Songkran Festival was first known to people in Bangkok through the promotion of train travel to Chiang Mai. Consequently, Songkran has become synonymous with the culture and has been promoted to the rank of a tourist attraction for Thai national tourists.

The political agenda of provincial government officials is also obvious in the invention of a procession called Dum Hua by using traditional Lanna culture. Although the political agendas behind the procession have evolved during the last fifty years since it was introduced, they have always been a part of the procession.

KHUN TOK DINNER: THE TRANSFORMATION OF A LANNA EATING STYLE INTO A TOURIST ATTRACTION IN CHIANG MAI, THAILAND

This paper examines the transformation of the Khun Tok and Lanna cuisine in Chiang Mai, Northern ... more This paper examines the transformation of the Khun Tok and Lanna cuisine in Chiang Mai, Northern Thailand. Khun Tok is a traditional round, low table used for meals of the Lanna people (those who lived in the Northern part of Thailand or Lanna Kingdom in the past). In 1953, the Khun Tok Dinner was then established in the form of a modern party that used the name of the traditional Lanna utensil, Khun Tok, as the title of the party. It was the first time that the Lanna traditional cuisine and Khun Tok appeared in a modern style dinner for upper class people in the city of Chiang Mai. Later, the pattern of the Khun Tok Dinner was used and replicated to host visitors in Chiang Mai by local Buddhist groups. After the establishment of the private tourist business and the Old Chiang Mai Cultural Center, the Khun Tok Dinner was used regularly as a tourist attraction. Later, dancing in traditional costumes was introduced to accompany the meal. With this tourist construction of a traditional cuisine only easily cooked Lanna dishes were made available and a limited menu was served, despite there being a variety of traditional Lanna dishes. Subsequently, and in response to tourism demand, more Khun Tok Dinner restaurants were established in Chiang Mai. The concepts of authenticity and commoditisation of Lanna culture, as well as the promotion of the cultural industry are debated as significant factors relating to the transformation of the traditional Khun Tok and Lanna cuisine in response to the developing tourism industry.

Tourism and the transformation of ritual practice with sand pagodas in Chiang Mai, Northern Thailand

Tourism Review, 2015

Purpose -This study aims to examine the transformation process in traditional beliefs and practic... more Purpose -This study aims to examine the transformation process in traditional beliefs and practices in the use of sand in the Songkran Festival in Chiang Mai, Northern Thailand. Design/methodology/approach -This study uses historical and ethnographic methods to understand the transformation of the sand rituals in the Songkran Festival in Chiang Mai. The historical approach is used to investigate the past ritual practices of the sand pagoda, while the ethnographic approach is used to gather evidence about the recent practices surrounding the construction and deployment of the sand pagoda; the historical and archival research for this study has also accessed material from newspapers and photographs. Because observation and interviews are major methods of ethnographic research, participant observation at the sand pagoda rituals in the Songkran Festival was conducted, as well as interviews with the relevant interest groups to collect data on the rituals and the recent changes in these practices.

Modernity and the Evolution of a Festive Tourism Tradition: The Songkran Festival in Chiang Mai, Thailand

Asian Tourism, 2008

Khun Tok Dinner: The Transformation of a Lanna Eating Style Into a Tourist Attraction in Chiang Mai, Thailand

This paper examines the transformation of the Khun Tok and Lanna cuisine in Chiang Mai, Northern ... more This paper examines the transformation of the Khun Tok and Lanna cuisine in Chiang Mai, Northern Thailand. Khun Tok is a traditional round, low table used for meals of the Lanna people (those who lived in the Northern part of Thailand or Lanna Kingdom in the past). In 1953, the Khun Tok Dinner was then established in the form of a modern party that used the name of the traditional Lanna utensil, Khun Tok, as the title of the party. It was the first time that the Lanna traditional cuisine and Khun Tok appeared in a modern style dinner for upper class people in the city of Chiang Mai. Later, the pattern of the Khun Tok Dinner was used and replicated to host visitors in Chiang Mai by local Buddhist groups. After the establishment of the private tourist business and the Old Chiang Mai Cultural Center, the Khun Tok Dinner was used regularly as a tourist attraction. Later, dancing in traditional costumes was introduced to accompany the meal. With this tourist construction of a traditional...

Rethinking Asian tourism : culture, encounters and local response

Rethinking Asian Tourism addresses some of the latest developments in on-going tourism research i... more Rethinking Asian Tourism addresses some of the latest developments in on-going tourism research in Southeast Asia and the wider Asia region (encompassing, in geographical terms, Thailand, Vietnam, Indonesia, the Philippines, Malaysia, Hong Kong, Japan, and Korea). It examines many of the emerging, as well as established, themes and issues in Asian tourism and promotes the development of critical scholarship within Asia to overcome Anglo-Western ethnocentrism in tourism studies of the region. There is some attention to such familiar concepts as authenticity, commoditisation, culture, heritage, and hosts and guests, but more especially to the diversification of phenomena which traditionally would not have been included within the parameters of tourism studies: retirees and long-stays, gastronomy, family-based leisure, popular culture, and local branding. Above all, the book addresses and develops a conceptual understanding from a multidisciplinary perspective of the character, experie...

Understanding the young middle-class Chinese outbound tourism consumption: A social practice perspective

Tourism Management

Tourism and Monarchy in Southeast Asia Tourism and Monarchy in Southeast Asia

Rethinking Asian tourism : culture, encounters and local response

Rethinking Asian Tourism addresses some of the latest developments in on-going tourism research i... more Rethinking Asian Tourism addresses some of the latest developments in on-going tourism research in Southeast Asia and the wider Asia region (encompassing, in geographical terms, Thailand, Vietnam, Indonesia, the Philippines, Malaysia, Hong Kong, Japan, and Korea). It examines many of the emerging, as well as established, themes and issues in Asian tourism and promotes the development of critical scholarship within Asia to overcome Anglo-Western ethnocentrism in tourism studies of the region. There is some attention to such familiar concepts as authenticity, commoditisation, culture, heritage, and hosts and guests, but more especially to the diversification of phenomena which traditionally would not have been included within the parameters of tourism studies: retirees and long-stays, gastronomy, family-based leisure, popular culture, and local branding. Above all, the book addresses and develops a conceptual understanding from a multidisciplinary perspective of the character, experie...

Heritage and Identity in Contemporary Thailand: Memory, Place and Power by Ross King (review)

Heritage and Identity in Contemporary Thailand is a hard book to review, chiefly because of the d... more Heritage and Identity in Contemporary Thailand is a hard book to review, chiefly because of the difficulty in categorizing it. It is not really a monograph, in spite of Ross King’s being credited as the sole author. All of the chapters are in fact based on dissertations and writings by Thai scholars who are acknowledged accordingly at the beginning of each chapter. The chapters not only utilize content provided by selected Thai scholars but also offer their perspectives. It is precisely this collaboration that means that the volume is not simply another outside gaze at Thailand through a Western lens. At the same time, the manuscript is not an edited collection, since it represents a single narrative — that of King. He admits at times going beyond the task of editing the contributions to the book to the point of rewriting some parts. Accordingly, King acutely displays his own awareness of the impossibility of categorizing the book.

Tourism and Monarchy in Southeast Asia

Journal of Social Issues in Southeast Asia

The Monarch, the Elephant, and Tourism in Chiang Mai, Thailand

This chapter focuses on the influence of the visit of the Siamese monarch on the evolution of the... more This chapter focuses on the influence of the visit of the Siamese monarch on the evolution of the elephant’s role in Chiang Mai. Although elephants were known as carriers for long-distance travel in the past, they were used primarily in the logging industry in Chiang Mai during the colonial period. The visit of King Prajadhipok and the Queen to Chiang Mai in 1926 may be viewed as the starting point in turning elephants into a part of the development of the tourism industry in the city, when the troop of elephants first appeared in Chiang Mai to accompany the King and Queen from the rail station to the inner city. After that the elephant came to be known as the image of Chiang Mai by visitors from outside. This resulted in an increasing demand for wood carvings of elephant figures as souvenirs of Chiang Mai. Later the elephant was adopted as the official symbol of Chiang Mai province. With regard to tourism development in Chiang Mai, the elephant camp was then established as the centre for elephant shows and activities for tourists in Chiang Mai. Among tourism marketing and promotion, more elephant camps were established, then new patterns of elephant shows and activities have been created to entertain tourists who are the major customers of the elephant camps. Besides tourism development and economic benefits, theoretical concepts of place branding, representation, symbolic consumption and tourism, and political-economic change are discussed as factors in the evolution of elephant roles in Chiang Mai. The changing role of elephants in Chiang Mai reflects the political and economic transformation of the city.

TOURISM AND POLITICAL AGENDAS IN THE DUM HUA PROCESSION IN THE SONGKRAN FESTIVAL PLOYSRI PORANANOND

Extensive academic studies have focused on festivals and their political motivation. Carnivals we... more Extensive academic studies have focused on festivals and their political motivation. Carnivals were especially driven by political considerations from the start. What makes a carnival stand out is the manner in which it has been used by both the subordinated groups against government authorities, often to make their cause heard, and the ruling class to suppress the reality of a divided society through the portrayal of a united country of diverse people.

The Songkran Festival in Chiang Mai is similar to a carnival, due to the fact that its performance is politically driven. The Songkran Festival was first known to people in Bangkok through the promotion of train travel to Chiang Mai. Consequently, Songkran has become synonymous with the culture and has been promoted to the rank of a tourist attraction for Thai national tourists.

The political agenda of provincial government officials is also obvious in the invention of a procession called Dum Hua by using traditional Lanna culture. Although the political agendas behind the procession have evolved during the last fifty years since it was introduced, they have always been a part of the procession.

KHUN TOK DINNER: THE TRANSFORMATION OF A LANNA EATING STYLE INTO A TOURIST ATTRACTION IN CHIANG MAI, THAILAND

This paper examines the transformation of the Khun Tok and Lanna cuisine in Chiang Mai, Northern ... more This paper examines the transformation of the Khun Tok and Lanna cuisine in Chiang Mai, Northern Thailand. Khun Tok is a traditional round, low table used for meals of the Lanna people (those who lived in the Northern part of Thailand or Lanna Kingdom in the past). In 1953, the Khun Tok Dinner was then established in the form of a modern party that used the name of the traditional Lanna utensil, Khun Tok, as the title of the party. It was the first time that the Lanna traditional cuisine and Khun Tok appeared in a modern style dinner for upper class people in the city of Chiang Mai. Later, the pattern of the Khun Tok Dinner was used and replicated to host visitors in Chiang Mai by local Buddhist groups. After the establishment of the private tourist business and the Old Chiang Mai Cultural Center, the Khun Tok Dinner was used regularly as a tourist attraction. Later, dancing in traditional costumes was introduced to accompany the meal. With this tourist construction of a traditional cuisine only easily cooked Lanna dishes were made available and a limited menu was served, despite there being a variety of traditional Lanna dishes. Subsequently, and in response to tourism demand, more Khun Tok Dinner restaurants were established in Chiang Mai. The concepts of authenticity and commoditisation of Lanna culture, as well as the promotion of the cultural industry are debated as significant factors relating to the transformation of the traditional Khun Tok and Lanna cuisine in response to the developing tourism industry.

Tourism and the transformation of ritual practice with sand pagodas in Chiang Mai, Northern Thailand

Tourism Review, 2015

Purpose -This study aims to examine the transformation process in traditional beliefs and practic... more Purpose -This study aims to examine the transformation process in traditional beliefs and practices in the use of sand in the Songkran Festival in Chiang Mai, Northern Thailand. Design/methodology/approach -This study uses historical and ethnographic methods to understand the transformation of the sand rituals in the Songkran Festival in Chiang Mai. The historical approach is used to investigate the past ritual practices of the sand pagoda, while the ethnographic approach is used to gather evidence about the recent practices surrounding the construction and deployment of the sand pagoda; the historical and archival research for this study has also accessed material from newspapers and photographs. Because observation and interviews are major methods of ethnographic research, participant observation at the sand pagoda rituals in the Songkran Festival was conducted, as well as interviews with the relevant interest groups to collect data on the rituals and the recent changes in these practices.

Modernity and the Evolution of a Festive Tourism Tradition: The Songkran Festival in Chiang Mai, Thailand

Asian Tourism, 2008