2. The monoi industry

2.1 Emergence of an industrial sector: Groupement interprofessionnel du Monoï de Tahiti (G.I.M.T.)

The idea of developing industrial production of monoï tiare was born in 1942 with the establishment of the first Polynesian cosmetics company, Tiki Parfumerie. The development of tourism and the installation of a Club Méditerranée site in Polynesia in the 1960s enabled Monoï de Tahiti to make a name for itself all over the world, and to be associated with the development of vacations in the sun. Over the next 30 years, Monoï became a benchmark sun oil, and an industrial production sector developed and began to take shape in Polynesia.

In 1988, to combat the numerous counterfeit products (80% of monoï sold on international markets at the time was counterfeit),...