Resplendent Sites, Discordant Voices: Sri Lankans and International Tourism

Resplendent Sites, Discordant Voices is a detailed examination of the development of international tourism in Sri Lanka, from the mid 1960s to the present day. It portrays a highly complex industry on a number of different levels and from a diversity of viewpoints. Its focus shifts from global and comparative concerns to the political, economic and cultural context of national policy formation, then to the regional story of tourism growth in Kandy, and finally to the roles and relationships which exist in the so-called 'informal sector', that large arena of somewhat 'shady' activities beyond the control of national tourism authorities which characterises this industry throughout the Third World. The rhetoric of the industry image-makers is studied, but how tourism is perceived is also presented from the perspective of a range of other social groups, such as those running unlicensed guesthouses, municipal officials, the younger generation about to leave school, and individuals trying to make a living from their encounters with foreigners on the streets of Kandy. From these portraits, international tourism in Sri Lanka emerges as an arena of conflicting, ambivalent and ambiguous voices. This study will be of great value to Sri Lanka specialists, Asianists in general, social scientists with interests in the contemporary Third World, and above all to those interested in the growing field of the anthropology of tourism.

Malcolm Crick is Associate Professor of Anthropology at Deakin University in Victoria, Australia.