How Tourist Destinations Could Be Stereotyped and Misplaced by Structural Forces? - A Case of Penghu Archipelago, Taiwan

¹ Adjunct Assistant Professor, Department of Applied History, National Chiayi University, Taiwan
² Professor, Department of Geography, National Taiwan Normal University, Taiwan

Abstract

Tourist destination image is important for strategic marketing and tourist choice. While many studies focus on images and their influencing factors, images are wrongly considered only for sale, compromising local authenticity and local life. With a critical review of development plans and the results of a questionnaire survey, this paper argues that images often stereotype and misplace tourist destination, in particularly for images brought about by structural forces. Islands are lands surrounded by ocean and often taken as full of marine and coastal resources and sceneries. In Penghu archipelago, marine environment is important for local livelihood and tourist destination. However, with the case of Erkan, we realize that, along with the evidence from interviews and surveys, most Erkan tourists do not come for its marine or natural resources. Erkan, as a fishing village, was turned into a tourism destination for tis vernacular architecture and folklore products irrelevant to its marine environment. With structural endeavours and official makeover of places, places are stereotyped and often become out of place.