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426 paradise
References
Guba, E. �1990) The Paradigm Dialog, Newbury
Park, CA: Sage.
Hollinshead, K. and Graburn, N. �eds) �forthcoming)
Shifting Sands:Established, Emergent, and
Emerging Worldviews in the Social Sciences, New York:
Cognizant Communication Corporation.
Kuhn, T.S. �1970) The Structure of Scientific Revolutions,
2nd edn, Chicago: University of Chicago Press.
paradise
KEITH HOLLINSHEAD, UK
Paradise is regarded as a place of exceptional
happiness and delight, represented in the Western
imagery as an ideal or enchanted garden such as
the Garden of Eden. The continued quest for the
earthly paradise has a long history �Manuel and
Manuel 1973). The image of paradise suggests
pristinity, simplicity and primitiveness, on the one
hand, and unlimited wish fulfilment, enjoyment
and fun on the other. As such, it is one of the most
powerful metaphors for the promotion of destinations.
Initially used primarily in the promotion of
`pristine' nature sites, such as beaches and
`enchanting' small islands, the metaphor has
been applied to a widening range of diverse
destinations with an ever more tenuous relationship
to nature: there are skiing and golfing
paradises, sex paradises and even shopping
paradises, in the metaphorical sense of places
offering complete customer satisfaction.
However, even as commercialised attractions
become paradises, nature paradises undergo commoditisation.
Remote, initially `pristine' and
`untouched' beaches and islands become vacation
resorts, providing tourists with an increasingly
more complete, sophisticated �and expensive)
touristic infrastructure of hotels, restaurants,
shopping areas, bars and other facilities. Such
paradises, integrating natural amenities with modern,
often luxurious facilities, become principal
attractions of mass tourism. Commercialisation
may be accompanied by a studied, playful
primitivism, as for example in the Club MediterraneÂe
resorts. However, seekers of more `pristine'
paradisiac sites and simpler vacationing lifestyles
move further afield onto ever more remote beaches
and smaller islands, thus frequently serving as
spearheads of touristic penetration.
With the growth of mass tourism, such
paradises become not only commercialised but
also commoditised: a package-like stereotype of a
nature paradise is constructed and advertised as
any other commodity with uniform, standardised
ingredients. The image mostly consists of waving
palm trees, calm beaches, quiet lagoons, hills
clothed in rich vegetation and surf pounding on
coral reefs, beyond which lies a deep blue sea.
Voluptuous native women frequently complete the
image �see also natives).
However, with the development of tourism, a
marked discrepancy tends to emerge between the
`paradisiac' destinations so advertised and their
actual reality. As natural sites become despoiled in
highly developed tourism areas, entrepreneurs start
to establish contrived paradises, isolated enclaves in
which the stereotyped image of paradise is
artificially recreated in order to correspond to the
expectations of tourists, who have been beguiled
by the promotional literature.
References
Manuel, F.E. and Manuel, F.P. �1972) `Sketch for a
natural history of paradise', Daedelus 101: 83±
128.
Further reading
Ballerino Cohen, C. �1995) `Marketing paradise,
making nation', Annals of Tourism Research 22�2):
404±21.
Cohen, E. �1982) `The Pacific islands from utopian
myth to consumer product: the disenchantment
of paradise', Les Cahiers du Tourism SeÂrie B, 27.
Lewis, L.S., and Brissett, D. �1981) `Paradise on
demand', Society 18�5): 85±90.
paratransit
ERIK COHEN, ISRAEL
Paratransit refers to a class of public passenger
transportation that is more flexible and person-