Tourism and the new regional governance of ‘Pacific large ocean states'

Abstract

International tourism represents a key economic driver for the development of Pacific large ocean island states. The chapter addresses both global and inherent characteristics of the states to highlight governance issues in the current policy environment. It looks at tourism-relevant perspectives such as global trade, hyper-neoliberalism, climate change, biodiversity loss and the increased frequency and magnitude of natural disasters. Significantly, the repositioning of the new regionalism that is emerging from the Pacific itself and the reframing of Pacific states as large ocean states, rather than as small islands, is also indicative of a broader reaction to neoliberalism and the need to focus on critical economic and environmental issues within which tourism is embedded. The chapter concludes that Pacific Island states should embrace a revised metagovernance that puts destination resilience and long-term sustainability as being in keeping with the region’s new policy trajectory.