The Psychology of Tourist Scams with Tourism Expert Ding Xu [S5.E57]

Anyone who has been to Thailand knows the old "Ohhh, the
temple is closed today, why don't you come with me to this gem
store?" Despite warnings in literally every bit of content about
traveling to Thailand, thousands still fall prey to this scam
every year. But why??


To answer this we are joined by Ding Xu, a PhD
candidate in tourism at Australia's James Cook
University. Ding's research goes deep into
understanding the culture, economy and psychology of the tourism
industry as well as the tourists themselves. Putting hundreds of
hours of study into the scams that are so prevalent around the
world, Ding has a unique insight into not only how and why the
scams are put together, but what causes a large number of
tourists to part with money - sometimes a lot of money! - based
on the advice of a random dude they met in a foreign
country. 


Ding explains the four features that his research
identified in being central to any scam - deception types,
interpersonal trust, victim culpability and prevalence - to
dissect how and why these scams are so ubiquitous.


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