Tourism and globalisation: vectors of cultural homogenisation? (the case study of bali)

International audienceThe island of Bali is an excellent place for us to observe tourist behavior and question the diversity of activities. In this context, it also allows us to question the accusation of 'standardization' generated by tourism exacerbated in the context of globalization. Does this cause relationships with time, or space, but also with the Other, simplified to the point of undermining the diversity of local cultures, as certain authors have claimed? But are we on the contrary seeing, as other researchers have tended to suggest, singularities in activities, based on indisputable sociological profiles, but also on the geographical origin of holidaymakers, both domestic and international? To answer this question, we will focus our analysis on the main tourism companies operating in Bali, namely those from Indonesia, Australia, China, but also France, the second largest European source of visitors, and the United States which is the biggest on the American continent. Our methodology, based on a hypothetical-deductive approach, will cross-reference quantitative and qualitative methods. We will study, over and above the statistical study of domestic and international tourist movements, the more specific activities of the tourists according to their nationalities, via a study of the offers provided by the main tour operators, a method which on the one hand allows us avoid being shackled by too broad a definition of 'tourism', as imposed by the WTO, and on the other hand the imposition of national territorial frameworks. Then, we will compare these results with a field study conducted at a local level at two tourist landmarks with shared uses, namely Kuta Beach, Padang-Padang beach, and Tanjung Benoa