A response to ‘Misguided policy initiatives in small-island destinations: why do upmarket tourism policies fail?’ by Dimitri Ioannides and Briavel Holcomb

TLDR: Ioannides and Holcomb as discussed by the authors argued that islands can draw on up-market visitors to support sustainable tourism development as is demonstrated in French Polynesia and some of the ‘newer’ long-haul destinations in the Indian Ocean.

Abstract: The subject tackled by Dimitri Ioannides and Briavel Holcomb is of utmost interest because islands are the second most important holiday destination after the category of historic cities (Gartázar and Marin 1999: 14). Islands are also characterized by vulnerable environments for whose survival sustainable development is vital. Management lessons can be learned from situations such as those described in Ioannides and Holcomb’s article. My argument is that islands can draw on up-market visitors to support sustainable tourism development as is demonstrated in French Polynesia and some of the ‘newer’ long-haul destinations in the Indian Ocean, which are competing for affluent visitors – according to Ioannides and Holcomb – with these Mediterranean islands. Islands offer great diversity among themselves and certainly no longer need to rely only on ‘beaches and sunshine’. Their main advantage does remain their ‘différand’ from the global cities where most tourists live their daily drudgery. Luxury tourists respond to