ABSTRACT
In chapter 1, the long historical pedigree of the ‘earthly paradise’ was identified. It was shown that tourism promoters exploited the earlier literary tradition by arguing that the fictional dream could become reality for European consumers. Such promoters played down the fears of solitude and savagery underlying many literary accounts and emphasised the positives. Whilst any subtropical or tropical island destination has the opportunity to tap the imagery of ‘the classic tropical island’, it is the South Pacific which most unequivocally is thought of as the ‘classic’ location for such fantasies of the Western imagination. There is, however, an ambiguity which possibly is most evident in the case of Fiji.
