Tourism, Development and International Studies - Tourism and Development: Concepts and Issues - page 416

As Smith et al. (2010) indicate, the postmodern world is characterised by
globalisation and hyper-consumerism, which is linked to the experience
economy along with new developments in technology. A postmodern tour-
ist then is one who embraces the increasingly inauthentic, commercialised
and simulated experiences (Smith et al. , 2010). In addition to simulated envi-
ronments, there is also a dimension of postmodern tourism that is the
search for the 'real' and linked to an appeal of natural or countryside tour-
ism as part of postmodernism (Uriely, 1997). In the context of the Middle
East, Steiner (2010) examines the development of hyper-realties in places
such as Dubai and Bahrain. Mega-developments, such as the palm islands
in Dubai, are elements of symbolic capital and 'the accumulations of sym-
bolic capital is necessary to succeed in the (global) competition for recogni-
tion and prestige' (Steiner, 2010: 248). This symbolic capital has been driven
in part by a booming demand to visit the 'new orient of the twenty-first
century' (Steiner, 2010), but also has political value as the hyper-realities are
also generating political legitimisation for neo-patrimonial and authoritar-
ian regimes. Steiner (2010: 249) concludes that 'the more hyper-real tourism
spaces become the more they contribute to stabilisation of given structures
and power'. Power relationships have also been examined in the context of
postmodernism by Cheong and Miller (2000) who incorporated the work
of Foucault by examining the relationship between tourists, locals and bro-
kers. The increase in the number of protest movements against globalisa-
tion and financial corruption, such as the Occupy Wall Street movement,
illustrate a growing frustration with the Washington Consensus. Similarly
tourism non-governmental organisations (NGOs), such as Tourism Con-
cern, are also promoting campaigns to stop exploitation by multinational
tourism corporations.
Post-colonialism
Quayson (2000: 2) suggests post-colonialism involves 'a studied engage-
ment with the experience of colonialism and its past and present effects,
both at the local level of ex-colonial societies as well as at the level of more
general global developments thought to be the after-effects of empire'. It is
becoming more recognised in international relations and examines how
histories of the West and South are intertwined (Baylis et al. , 2011). A cen-
tral aspect of post-colonialism is that 'global hierarchies of subordination
and control, past and present, are made possible through the social con-
struction of racial, gendered and class differences' (Baylis et al. , 2011: 6).
Part of the subordination is linked to the notion that many theories, includ-
ing realism, Marxism and liberalism, originated in the West and this may
just help to continue the subordination of the global South (Baylis et al. ,
2011). One of the well-known writers in this field is Edward Said who
wrote Orientalism in 1978. Orientalism is a term conceived in the West and