Sustainable visits to Rapa Nui: Glocal perspectives
Funded by: STINT (531 000 SEK)
Time period: 2019-2022
Organizational project members:
The Department of Archaeology and Ancient History and the Department of Civil and Industrial Engineering, both at Uppsala University. Programma Antopologia, Pontificia Universidad de Católica, Santiago Chile, Coordinator: Associate Professor Roberto Campbell. Collaborative partner on Rapa Nui Fundascion Mata ki te Rangi; Hon. Dr. Sonia Haoa Cardinali.
About the project
This collaborative research focuses on Sustainable Visits in Rapa Nui - local and global perspectives. With ´visits´ we mean tourism, but also visits with colonial connotations at contact time and beyond, visits by researchers, Rapanui going out, and coming back to the island, which all have affected the society in social, economic and ecological ways. The purpose is to investigate the relationship between cultural heritage management, legislation, indigeneity and social, economic and environmental issues on Rapa Nui as a major tourist site. Interviews and collaborations with Rapanui researchers and local people on the current development of tourism and social, economic and environmental sustainability in Rapa Nui will contribute to an in-depth understanding of local Rapa Nui relationships that have relevance on similar issues on a global scale.
Tourism and especially cultural and natural tourism is a fast growing and an important industry around the world that created a vast number of jobs on a global, national and local level. This type of industry is especially suitable to create jobs and businesses in rural and remote areas, which have assets of great cultural values, like the moai and ahu of Rapa Nui. However, rural and especially remote small island areas are vulnerable. The tourism industry is an important economic factor but tourism also has a large impact on the social and environmental level. On a global scale, the turnover of cultural and natural heritage tourism is huge and the sectors have a potential of further growth but in this project we ask; how is these sectors going to become more sustainable and is the growth of these sectors compatible with sustainability?
Project leader: Helene Martinsson-Wallin
Project members: Helene Martinsson-Wallin, Ulrika Persson-Fischier