Les îles tropicales, lieux de l’extraordinaire ? Construction et maturation touristiques en Polynésie Française et à l’Île Maurice

Abstract

Tourist tropical islands are often endowed by an exotic representation based on insularity, remoteness, tropicality, cultural and social otherness as components of a myth built on long time, which is at the origin of these destinations’ tourism setup. The "extraordinary" of these islands was also deeply manipulated and cultivated by the actors of tourism. Despite the evocative power of these destinations, they have achieved differently their tourism globalization, as illustrated by the cases of Mauritius and French Polynesia. The attendance, the internationalization and diversification of these destinations in terms of supply and customers are also highly variable. Indeed, these destinations have different trajectories: Mauritian maturity versus Polynesian fragility.

Keywords

• Tourism
• Islands
• Imaginay
• Maturation
• Mauritius
• French Polynesia