Secluded Settings

The third, and final, theme that is exhibited throughout the data collected for content analysis is the constant depiction of private settings within the resort. Across the various settings that were observed in the content collected, around 38% presented a private setting of some kind, such as cabanas, pools, or even beaches. One example (top image) is an image from the Bahamas that shows a white couple holding hands and walking down the beach. This beach can be categorized as private because there is no one else shown, no chairs in the sand, yet it is lined with private cabanas along the dunes.

Credit: Couple walking on a private beach by Sandals. CC-BY.

Credit: Woman bathing in private pool by Excellence Resorts. CC-BY.

Another image, (bottom image) coming from a Jamaican site, that represents this theme is one of a woman in a pool that can be seen as connected to her suite/room and even has a private part of the beach marked out in front of her with two chairs under an umbrella. These two depictions of private areas create a concept of exclusion from the local population. The draw to these different nations, and resorts within them, stems from the warm, sunny weather and nice ‘exotic’ conditions such as the clear blue water and soft sand. With the previous two themes of a predominantly white population of guests, and the black employees being their servers, this shows that the resorts are taking away space from the locals so that wealthy foreigners may take advantage of them instead. This inequality in access to these areas puts the white traveler above the ‘darker skinned local’ in a sense.

Credit: Couple being served champagne while bathing in pool by Sandals. CC-BY.

One last example that continues this mantra is an image of a couple that is being served champagne in their own private pool that connects to their suite. The connection of the pool to the suite furthers the point that people travel to these places that are presumably far away from them, just to have everything they need in one space. It does not create a communal idea of exploring the local population, but instead provokes an idea that they can exploit them in their own secluded area