Following tremendous growth between 1996 and 2003, tourism in French Polynesia experienced a dramatic drop in 2005. Ideas and initiatives to boost tourism in Polynesia today seem to have been exhausted. This article examines initiatives to promote the tourism sector in French Polynesia over the last ten years in order to provide explanations for the difficulties encountered today. It focuses on dynamic capabilities and dynamic disabilities. Entrepreneurial creativity, business spirit, and the ability to identify opportunities and realize projects are identified among the local people, and the authors show how these resident capabilities are impacted by the local economic environment.JEL Codes : M00