"Is tourism the culprit for commodifying cultures and traditions of Thailand?"

Yes, I have to agree with this statement to a certain extent. Tourism is indeed the culprit in commodifying cultures and traditions. Let’s look at some examples.

Baan Tong Luang was opened to the public in 2005 as a culture preservation project. It is a cultural village where tourists and the indigenous people meet and interact with each other. The indigenous people will demonstrate their weaving and embroidery skills, perform their traditional dances as well as selling handicraft products they made. These members of the hill tribes are being brought into the village. Building such village had lead to a commodification of cultures and traditions because it shows that these indigenous groups are already adapting to the tourists’ demand. The motivation for them to make handicraft, clothes and perform their traditional dances is for the tourists already because it has become a source of income for them.  The tribes would modify their culture in order to cater to the preferences of the tourists.

I would say that it has become like a “staged authenticity”. Tourists are not seeing the real traditional way of life of these indigenous groups of people. They do not get to see the indigenous people harvesting in the farm, washing clothes by the river, and cooking their specialty dishes for their own families. Sooner or later, the rich and unique set of these indigenous’ cultures will be diluted everyday because their culture was not designed to meet the tourists’ needs in the first place. However, for tourists who want an authentic experience, homestays can be made available in the indigenous people’s homes, where one can eat, sleep and live a life similar to them.

Secondly, since the indigenous groups are well-known for their embroidery and weaving skills, there will be a high demand for their clothes. It might cause them to change their nature of production to meet these demands, which means adopting machines as it is generally more efficient. This will lead to a loss of their indigenous identity because weaving skills have already form part of their culture. They also see a potential source of income in selling clothes. Indigenous groups wearing their colourful and beautiful traditional costumes selling their handicraft products and clothes along the streets of the city has become a common sight. Furthermore, these indigenous groups used to be animists, but tourism has exposed them to foreign mindsets and cultures. Today, this form of influence can be clearly seen in some members of the hill tribes converting to Buddhism or Christianity. Tourists who had purchased handicraft made by the indigenous people will bring back to their home country and show it to their friends and relatives. They will hence form a perception that these handicraft products represent the indigenous groups’ cultures when in actual fact, there is more to it. Traditional dances, customs, rituals, beliefs, values and way of life are also some other parts that form the indigenous groups’ culture.

Tourism has lead to an exposure of others’ beliefs and attitudes, and has thus changed the perception of the role of women in the modern society today. Traditionally, women are considered more inferior as compared to men. They have the perception that women should stay at home, take care of the babies and cook meals. However, there are increasingly more men doing such responsibilities too. Some examples are the rise in male chefs and career-minded women holding a high position in a company. Ancient practices such as wives begging the forgiveness of their husbands in New Year’s ceremony are rapidly fading.