Is tourism an agent of the cultural heritage of nature in Bali? A western paradigm in the face of a Balinese philosophy

International audienceReflections on the globalization of tourism and the relationship with the environment which it provokes, lead us to continue our analysis of the diffusion models by focusing on the differentiated processes of cultural heritage. In effect the analyzes undertaken over many years on the existing relationships between the cultural heritage of nature and the growth of tourism in the West have allowed us to identify a phenomenon of co-constitution, comparable to the existing relationships between tourism and cultural heritage. This global spread suggests a possible universalism of the cultural heritage of nature. As such, the globalization of tourism in Bali is today engendering redefinitions of ‘nature’, turned on its head by the environmentalist paradigm. The island is effectively the central point for tourism in the archipelago, with visitor numbers estimated at some 3.7 million international tourists and nearly 7 million domestic tourists in 2014. Bali is therefore an ideal place to observe the complex relationships between the tourism dynamic and the appreciation of the environment. Is tourism a homogenizing vector of the concept of nature by helping promote the transfer of management and protection policies aimed at universalism? Or does it instead favor a cultural heritage process of a singular natural social construct, defined by its traditional societal roles