Literature Review Thirumaran Over the past 5 years, Dr. Thirumaran’s research focus has been on Singapore,

6.2 Literature Review

Periphery destinations are usually vaction areas where people from developed and centers of production travel for their holidays Muller and Jannson 2006 . Geographically, the periphery refers to a place remote to the main sites of activities. Pleasure periphery as used by Turner and Ash 1975 and Christaller 1964 referred to the escape from the urban industrial work cities to places in a distance for relax- ation and rejuvenation. As Muller and Jannson 2006 suggest, peripheral areas stand as complimentary development areas for people in the urban centers of Europe. So the development in these areas has to be different and yet managed in a way that present and future generations can enjoy. In Finland and other Nordic countries, tourism in the peripheral regions has increasingly contributed to employ- ment and development Saarinen 2006 . Islands need not necessarily have a strong state hand in its development. Fischer 2012 writes that Nantucket islanders who had long depended on whale oil exports, in 1888, found their island economy in decline. An unplanned development took place. A recognized Coffi ns family organized one of the largest reunion of the Coffi ns with 500 of them descending on Nantucket. Later, the new lodgings built to house the invited Coffi ns were to serve as a tourist accommodation which Nantucket leveraged and prospered ever since, attracting regular fl ow of tourists to the island. Other islands such as Germany’s Heligoland and Norderney fl ourished as a result of an upper class and later the middle class seeking retreats such as seaside spa and bathing Fischer 2012 . These and many other highlighted examples reveal that islands, whether they become a successful resort destination, are quite dependent on the vagaries of their economic circumstances and a trigger to create a service economy. In the case of Nantucket in particular, once the infrastructure was in place, it then led to higher visi- tor arrivals as is corroborated with the novel Moby-Dick by Melville 1851 . In their study of resort development, Botterill et al. 2014 focus on the way in which Caraguatatuba experienced an infl ux of in-migration creating a stratifi ed class fueling alcohol, drugs, and sex industry in conjunction with rapid resort devel- opments. They argue that development is often depicted in a positive imagery over- laying a veneer of transgressive social pathologies. On the other end of the spectrum, Ioannides 1992 and Pearce 1989 fi nd that in the case of Cypress, the spatial changes and growth are very much shaped by the state actors despite an overwhelm- ing presence of transnational businesses. Hence, depending on the stakeholder’s lead, there can be a variety of different outcomes of a destination’s development. Indonesia development planning is based on “center-periphery” as inner and outer zone Rodenburg 1980 . The inner zone includes Bali , Java, and Madura due to their extremely high population densities. Vickers 2011 recounts how Bali’s development was very much a narrative of national development from the colonial era to the times when the state of Indonesia was consolidating into a unitary state. In the period of Suharto’s reign, signifi cant training institutions along with foreign- managed hotels emerged as Balinese culture, and the beaches became attractions. Many scholarly writings tended to focus on Balinese cultural development more than balitrulyyahoo.com its beach resorts, precisely because Balinese culture itself was unique and exotic in visitor’s eyes differentiated by the many cultures in the Indonesian archipelago. The literature Wall 1996 ; Cohen 1994 also informs us of the existence of a belief system between nature and the Balinese. Due to this established relation, hotel developments and other major developments in Bali have either been thwarted, become controversial, or needed extensive appeasement efforts to overcome the acquisition of land and initiate development. Two examples of projects that were mired in such controversies are a hotel development in close proximity to the sacred Tanah Lot Temple and the towering statue of Wisnu at The Garuda Wisnu Kencana Cultural Park. These controversies partly stem from beliefs that such constructions might upset the spiritual balance of the island of Gods [a synonym for Bali]. As Bell 1992 laments about another challenge that haunts many popular destinations, that is, at times Bali can be also over crowded by tourists and affect the authenticity of cultural performances and the hospitality industry services. Hence, the island para- dise as we often come to know is not all devoid of internal challenges. Thus far, resort development as a topic in Vietnam is scarce. Jansen-Verbeke and Go 1995 and Lam 1996 had earlier on identifi ed the need for the Vietnamese government to take a lead in charting a development path to optimize tourism bene- fi ts. Thirumaran et al. 2014 studied the challenges of Vietnam presenting a consoli- dated brand-souvenir to market the country better. They emphasize the importance of identifying a representative souvenir in an early stage of Vietnam’s tourism develop- ment. Suntikul et al. 2008 point out the need for different policy bearings on visa, transport, and marketing and ways in which the industry and tourists may be impacted. The authors argue that more liberalization in these three segments is needed to further advance tourism development and arrivals. In these respects, this chapter’s examina- tion of Phu Quoc’s island further contributes to the literature on Vietnam’s tourism development and as a reference for policy makers in view of the challenges that portend as the island’s growth is carefully managed in the twenty-fi rst century.

6.3 Methodology