Abstract

The submitted dissertation elucidates and evaluates tourism concepts of the indigenous people of French Polynesia, the Maohi, under the perspective of sustainability with respect to the historical and cultural change in French Polynesia. The inspection of pre-European culture of the present French overseas territories (Territoire d outre-mer) shows that various factors including commerce, language, law, religion and society have experienced differing degrees of acculturation as a result from contact with the western world. In the framework of this process, commerce and social structure have experienced greater cultural restructuring than law, and law in turn greater than religion and language. The establishment of the CEP (Centre d Expérimentation the infrastructure constructed by the French government for the atomic tests) can be viewed as a drastic event. French Polynesia became a dependent transfer economy, also referred to as an ARAB system (ARAB = Atomic Rent, Aid, Bureaucracy). This economic status prevents independent commercial initiatives and led to the existence of structures in French Polynesia usually typical in developing countries. Signs of cultural revivals are present among the Maohi, who make up approximately 70% of the population in French Polynesia. The non-governmental organisation Hiti Tau founded in 1992 by the Maohi is one such group who would like to find a cultural and economic alternative to the French-western dominating life style. In 1999 Hiti Tau, and other Maohi independent of Hiti Tau, initiated micro projects in tourism. These projects, which economically however play no important role for French Polynesia, are analysed and evaluated in the submitted work according to the criteria of ecological, economic and socio-cultural sustainability. As a basis for these analyses, a modified version of the sustainability model from BECKER/JOB/WITZEL 1996 and the gtz-Guidelines for Tourism in the Technical Cooperation 1999 were used. From the results it can be stated, that by virtue of the long distance needed to travel to French Polynesia, sustainability in an ecological context can never be achieved. The evaluated projects were however highly sustainable at the socio-cultural level and partially sustainable at the economic level. An increase in sustainable tourism forms of the Maohi in French Polynesia is favoured by increasing initiatives on the side of the providers, by signs of a Renaissance Culturelle and by the concept of an imaginary geography. The last point signifies, that it is not the experience of the reality of the travel destination that is aspired to, rather the confirmation of fiction in this case the myth of Tahiti - which is sought after. Of limiting effect is the world wide relatively small demand for sustainable tourism projects and the character of dependent transfer economy, which causes a relatively high price level. Also in the long-term, sustainable tourism micro-projects, even when interwoven with other business branches like agriculture and arts and crafts, will only (can only) make a small contribution to the commercial power of French Polynesia unless they loose their character of sustainability.

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