Cultural Tourism Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 750 words

Cultural Tourism - Essay Example In looking at the official national website for Sri Lanka tourism, the first word that appears is heritage. This indicates a strong need for the country to promote the historical value of its country as being central to the event of a vacation within their borders. The website promotes a sense of otherness, attuned to Western sensibilities, through depicting men sitting on elephants, a lounging leopard, and an exotic woman reclining in what appears to be a spa atmosphere. The experience is connected back to the Western traveler through an image of a Caucasian man on a surfboard and a modern look at a beach. The emphasis is on the exotic, with a connection to the modern Western ideal in order to attract a broad set of travelers. The official national website for the Maldives has a picture of a surfer, swimming below the water towards the surface on a submerged board. The image evokes the sense of the beach, a cool splash of water against the heat of the sun. The first sub-category tha t is presented is titled culture. Just like the Sri Lanka website, the first promotional factor is the differences in culture that a Western traveler would encounter when visiting the country. The two subsequent headings promote diving and the opportunity for a honeymoon in the Maldives. The website reveals the daily temperature and has links to further information about where to stay and where to go, just like the Sri Lanka website. The otherness that is expressed in both websites leads the traveler towards thoughts of adventure. In creating an enticement to travel to the region, the websites are intended to evoke a sense of newness of experience so that the traveler will want to know what they do not yet know. The imagery also suggests that the locations have the element of the exotic, the â€Å"erotics of imperial conquest† as explored by McClintock (24). While the eroticism is not blatant, the notion that the locations will bring to the vacationer an experience that is de fined by adventure suggests that the attendee will be able to conquer an unknown territory. The use of the woman in the spa-like atmosphere on the advertisement for Sri Lanka can be linked to the desire to equate sensuality with the experience of visiting the island. McClintock states that â€Å"women served as mediating and threshold figures by means of which men oriented themselves in space, as agents of power and agents of knowledge† (24). The boundaries of the world have been typically characterized as women, objectifying the presence of the female spirit within the framework of territory. Through using a female image in a position of sensuality, this concept is continued into the modern day discourse about the experience of visiting a new land, thus having conquered that experience. The Maldives have a different approach to enticing their visitors. The site is full of images of the rich blue of the sea in contrast to the strand of islands. Several images of surfers, thei r boards planted beneath their feet and their bodies arched in control of their activity, grace the pages of their website. This evokes a different type of feeling towards the experience. This suggests that the natural environment is what will be conquered in visiting the isla

Causes of Vietnam War Research Paper Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 2000 words

Causes of Vietnam War - Research Paper Example The aforementioned events included the  Ã¢â‚¬Å"Berlin Blockade  from 1948 to 1949, the  Korean War that lasted for more than three years, the  Berlin Crisis in the year 1961, the  Vietnam War that continued for almost twenty five years, the  Cuban Missile Crisis, the invasion of Afghanistan by the Soviet forces  (1979–1989), and the  Able Archer  NATO exercises in November 1983† (Major Events of the Cold War n.d.)3. In the early 10th Century A.D, during the Tang Dynasty in ancient China, the dynasty’s economy and military’s gradient started to fall and over the time it weakened to such an extent that the Vietnamese population of the Red River Delta, an area invaded by the Chinese back in 100 BC, rebelled against their Chinese rulers and set up a traditional, native dynasty in the northern conurbation of Hanoi. Later in 1462, the emperor Le Loi got rid of all the remaining Chinese warlords in the region. In the 19th and 20th centuries, the Mekong River delta got populated as the aforementioned Vietnamese population moved southwards. ... ld, as it was â€Å"close to the South China Sea and countries such as India, Indonesia, the Philippines, Thailand, Malaysia, Singapore, and southern China† (Meehan n.d.)4. Taking advantage of the vital geographically strategic position of Vietnam, the Portuguese made their entry into the country in the 16th century, followed by the French and the Dutch, however, after continuous fights over power and control, the French established Vietnam as their colony and gained control of the country. The French ruled Vietnam from the year 1887 to 1954. Vietnam was considered a major addition to the French Indochina Empire, however, the sixty seven year old rule of the French over Vietnam was considered as one of the harshest and the crudest times in the history. The French governance dripped of nepotism, discrimination – of all sorts and Vietnam was considered as a personal golden egg laying hen for the French, which was exploited for personal gains and benefits but was not paid back and credited, what it deserved. The production and sale of alcohol and salt was put under the statutory control of the government, which meant that it could not be sold or produced privately. This resulted in an economic outrage amongst the trader fraternity, which continued for years. Rice was exported from the French-owned plantations only, while many Vietnamese locals did not have enough to eat. The French imposed strict sanctions on the labor as well. The labor rights were violated and workers were imprisoned if they attempted at leaving their jobs. The majority of the laborers imprisoned were either mine workers or the ones who worked as farmers in the rubber plantations. Under the subject of economics, the government took no measures to control the inflation, yet multiplied the taxes. The