Tourism in Pacific Islands ― Current Issues and Future Challenges

Over the past two decades, tourism has become the major driver of economic growth in many Pacific Island countries, most notably Fiji, Cook Islands, Vanuatu and Samoa, and it is becoming one of the only viable options for economic development in many others. These islands and small states are especially vulnerable to such external influences as climate change, natural disasters, political unrest and downturns in the global economy. A narrow resource base and a fragile and often vulnerable natural environment also affects the growth and development of tourism.

This timely book explores these current issues and future challenges in one volume. It is divided into four sections to fully examine the issue of tourism and climate change, the success and otherwise of indigenous tourism development in the Pacific, tourism’s socio-economic impact and challenges to tourism development in Pacific Island countries now and in the future. It is interdisciplinary in nature covering anthropology, sociology, cultural studies, environment / biology, economics and development studies. While the geographical range focuses particularly on the Pacific Islands, it extends beyond this region by including comparisons with other islands such as the Caribbean and offers relevant island tourism development insights.

This text will be of interest to tourism students, researchers and academics in the fields of tourism, development studies and cultural studies.

Stephen Pratt is Assistant Professor at the School of Hospitality and Tourism Management, Hong Kong Polytechnic University, Hong Kong. His main research interests lie in the areas of economic impacts of tourism, tourism marketing, sustainable tourism and tourism in the South Pacific.

David Harrison was from 2008 until early 2014 Professor and Head of the School of Tourism and Hospitality Management, University of the South Pacific, Fiji. He is now Professor of Tourism at Middlesex University, London. His primary interests are the economic, social and cultural aspects of tourism in developing countries, and he has carried out research and written on tourism in the Eastern Caribbean, Southern Africa, Eastern Europe, South-East Asia and the South Pacific.