Due to Globalisation, more people are encouraged to travel around the world and thus the influence of those travellers on the local culture is inevitable. Globalisation has taken place in Thailand. For instance, familiar international brands such as McDonald’s, and ZARA can now be found throughout Thailand. The result of Gobalisation has also greatly disneyfied Thailand.
The 4 key principles of Disneyization are theming, hybrid consumption, merchandising and emotional labour. These 4 principles are evident in Thailand, especially its capital, Bangkok.
Some examples of theming in the city is Dreamworld theme park, Hard Rock Café and Imm Fusion Sukhumvit Hotel whereby these places are based on different themes to enhance their attractiveness and differentiate themselves from other homogenous brands.
The key principle of hybrid consumption is to satisfy as many needs of the tourist as possible to increase the length of stay and in turn generate more revenue. For instance, Bangkok provides a variety of activities and entertainment in the city itself such as nightclubs, dining, shopping malls, temples etc so that tourists are attracted to spend a long time in the city.
Merchandising can be seen in Thailand where T-shirts, mugs and keychains that have “I Love Bangkok” written on them are sold to the tourists. The tourists are also walking advertisements for the country when they wear the shirt in their home country.
Emotional labour is where Thai employees present themselves like actors on stage. For instance, the employees in Thailand’s Dreamworld theme park are required to dress up in various cartoon characters’ costumes and act like the characters they are depicting.
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