Tourism in a peripheral capitalist economy : the case of Fiji
This thesis has two central aims: to test, at the empirical level, certain aspects of underdevelopment theory; and to demonstrate the utility of using an holistic approach for the investigation of 'geographic problems'. In particular, an attempt is made to investigate the processes and manifestations of linkages that render peripheral economies subordinated to, and dependent upon, metropolitan countries. The spatial manifestations of this form of development are investigated by inquiring into the nature of the processes themselves. This is achieved through the use of a case study of one industry, tourism, as it occurs in one, small, Pacific Island state - Fiji. The study centres on the organisational and structural characteristics of the in­dustry so as to determine the patterns of distribution of the industry's outputs. The study demonstrates that the incorporation of tourism into Fiji, and the key character­istics of the Fiji economy and tourist industry, are funda­mentally determined by commercial and political forces emanating from metropolitan economies. These forces struc­ture the tourist industry in such a way that the interests of the metropoles are given priority over those of the peripheral economy.
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