The Female Gaze of Western Retirees in Hua Hin, Thailand

Wallinger Stefanie ()
Additional contact information
Wallinger Stefanie: 125073 Fachhochschule Salzburg GmbH Fachhochschule Salzburg GmbH Department of Business & Tourism Urstein Süd 1 5412 Puch/Salzburg Austria

Zeitschrift für Tourismuswissenschaft, 2025, vol. 17, issue 3, 293-313

Abstract: This article examines the perspectives of Western female retirees in Hua Hin, Thailand, addressing the underrepresented experiences of women in international retirement migration literature. Focusing on everyday life, social relationships, and the challenges of aging abroad, it explores the intersections of gendered migration, intercultural relationships, and female support systems. The central research question investigates how these women experience retired life, with sub-questions concerning the specific challenges faced by single women, their social interactions, and their views on relationships between Western men and Thai women. The literature review highlights the dominance of male-centric perspectives in retirement migration studies, mirroring broader trends in tourism research, and – drawing on Urry’s concept of the tourist gaze – establishes a Western female gaze that addresses this gap. The study adopts an exploratory qualitative design based on semi-structured interviews with nine German-speaking Western female retirees, analysed using the documentary method of interpretation. The findings reveal that participants navigate their identities between a sense of belonging and foreignness, often relying on strong female support networks to manage emotional insecurities and social challenges. Their Western female gaze, shaped by continual comparison with familiar cultural norms, produces an ambivalent sense of connection and alienation in the host society.

Keywords: international retirement migration; female retirees; gendered migration; tourist gaze; intercultural relationships; internationale Altersmigration; weibliche Rentnerinnen; geschlechtsspezifische Migration; tourist gaze; interkulturelle Beziehungen (search for similar items in EconPapers)
Date: 2025
References: Add references at CitEc
Citations:

Downloads: (external link)
https://doi.org/10.1515/tw-2025-0021 (text/html)

Related works:
This item may be available elsewhere in EconPapers: Search for items with the same title.

Export reference: BibTeX RIS (EndNote, ProCite, RefMan) HTML/Text

Persistent link: https://EconPapers.repec.org/RePEc:bpj:touwis:v:17:y:2025:i:3:p:293-313:n:1004

DOI: 10.1515/tw-2025-0021

Access Statistics for this article

Zeitschrift für Tourismuswissenschaft is currently edited by Andreas Kagermeier

More articles in Zeitschrift für Tourismuswissenschaft from De Gruyter
Bibliographic data for series maintained by Peter Golla ().