Ecotourism and the politics of representation in Fiji

Abstract

Development initiatives in the South Pacific have intruded in often harmful ways on indigenous people's lives. Indeed, many projects have become examples of 'maldevelopment' (Emberson-Bain 1994c). This has led to the search for alternative development options. In recent years this search has fostered the emergence of the discourse of sustainable development. In essence, sustainable development promises holistic solutions to maldevelopment, solutions that are guided by sociocultural and environmental considerations. In the South Pacific, this discourse has in particular been articulated as the solution to the diverse range of economic, social and environmental problems associated with the tourism sector. Since the mid 1980s development assistance programs in Fiji have sponsored sustainability-based ventures in the tourism industry. These ventures are now commonly called 'ecotourism'. Major donors have included multilateral aid agencies such as the United Nations Development Programme (UNDP) and the South Pacific Regional Environmental Programme, as well as the official development assistance of regional industrialised countries. For example, the New Zealand Official Development Assistance program (NZODA) has sponsored ecotourism projects in Fiji's rural tourism periphery. The rationale for such support is clear. According to NZODA, ecotourism offers a sustainable alternative that not only helps combat environmental degradation and achieve economic growth but also 249 This content downloaded from 192.134.151.170 on Fri, 09 Mar 2018 15:21:21 UTC All use subject to http://about.jstor.org/terms 250 Confronti ng Fij i Futu res provides an alternative to capital-intensive, large-scale mass tourism development by creating business opportunities for rural communities (New Zealand Ministry of Foreign Affairs and Trade 1995). With such overseas economic assistance, it is perhaps not surprising that tourism planners in the Fiji government have shown a growing enthusiasm for ecotourism. It is also not surprising that indigenous Fijian landowners have welcomed ecotourism, predicated as it is supposed to be on the principle of sustainability, as an attractive development option (Cabaniuk 1989; Wakelin 1991). However, despite widespread and growing support for ecotourism in Fiji, the belief that ecotourism is a clearly delineated development alternative is erroneous. While ecotourism ideally denotes nature and culture-based tourism that involves active appreciation, education or interpretation (Backman 1994), in practice it is not the panacea for maldevelopment that many purport it to be. Moreover, it has in reality often been applied to virtually any kind of tourism which has even the vaguest connection with nature (Harrison and Brandt 1997) or with culture (Helu-Thaman 1992). This chapter1 will illustrate that both of these propositions apply to Fiji. The chapter begins by offering a brief outline of the impact of 'traditional' mass tourism in Fiji, in order to contextualise the evolution of ecotourism. It will be argued that the negative aspects associated with mass tourism led to a search for innovative solutions, which then acted as catalysts for the emergence of an alternative tourism planning discourse in Fiji. This is witnessed in planning documents that sought to incorporate Fiji's natural and cultural heritage as tourism assets. This process led to the establishment of the so-called 'secondary tourism' sector, which laid the foundation for the emergence of ecotourism. The principal government institutions involved in the establishment and development of ecotourism in Fiji have been the Native Lands Trust Board (NLTB) and the Ministry of Tourism (MOT). As will be seen in the chapter, the NLTB has become increasingly concerned with policy development and implementation, while the MOT has utilised ecotourism as a marketing tool in order to remodel the image associated with the secondary tourism sector. However, ecotourism representations have not only remodelled the images associated with the culture and natural heritage of Fiji, but have also remodelled more traditional tourist attractions. This demonstrates the problematic status of the ecotourism label. At the same time, despite these This content downloaded from 192.134.151.170 on Fri, 09 Mar 2018 15:21:21 UTC All use subject to http://about.jstor.org/terms