An unusual in-depth encounter with a Homo Sapiens of the "Third Kind," or "Homo touristicus" - a biped complete with sandals, sunhat, sunglasses, shorts, and a camera. He is everywhere, exploring the globe in every direction and generating over 1000 billion dollars in yearly revenue worldwide. We like to think we know him. He is easily mocked and scorned. But, in the end, the Touristicus remains an enigma and turns out to be more than a few clichés. Playing with the narrative codes of wildlife documentary, "Homo Touristicus" recounts the history and development of the first industry in the world, from its inception to the boom of group travel, with its impact on a local environment, economy and culture. Meanwhile, habits and behaviours of sample Touristicus (British, French, Japanese, German, Spanish, Czech...) are closely examined by philosopher Yves Michaud, sociologist Jean-Claude Kaufmann and anthropologists Jackie Waldren and Saskia Cousin, who studied various Touristicus in situ, on the sunny island of Ibiza, which became their outdoor research laboratory for a summer.
