[12] - Cowboy Hats

We are used to all sorts of things when it comes to tourism marketing: we no longer even notice the obligatory chalet style for alpine romance in Switzerland, nor the many references to the temples of Angkor Wat in Cambodia.

What was new to us, however, were the references to the Wild West that we noticed after spending some time in the region. We realized that the Wild West aesthetic is often used for tourist purposes.

The Wild West aesthetic is mobilized for visitor centers, shops, casinos, hotels and the like, and includes log cabins, covered wagons, hunting trophies and, of course, cowboy boots.

So we sleep in log cabins, eat under impressive hunting trophies and get shaken up by fake trolley buses on sightseeing tours. We enjoy the welcome break from the Alpine and temple scenery staged for tourists back home.