$2.6m shot in the arm

arm for tourism

Pacific island tourism is about to have a big shot in the arm, at least so far as its bureaucracy and statistics are concerned.

The European Economic Com munity has given a grant of US$2.6 million to eight island nations of the South Pacific under the Lome Convention for a regional tourism deve lopment plan. It is the first grant of its kind to help the countries work out a coordinated prog ram and will provide a perma nent staff and a modem data base for the Tourism Council of the South Pacific (TCSP). The program will run for two years and will be divided into seven sectors.

So far the TCSP has been a very loose grouping of the national tourist authorities of the Pacific under the chairman ship of Malakai Gucake, gen eral manager of the Fiji Visitors Bureau, and its activities have hardly stopped traffic any where. Nations involved have been Fiji, Kiribati, Papua New Guinea, Solomon Islands, Ton ga, Tuvalu, Vanuatu and West ern Samoa.

Under the E.E.C.-sponsored program the TCSP will set up a joint marketing strategy for the area, establish a training prog ram for local tourist personnel and also lay the groundwork for an educational program to cre ate greater awareness among the locals as well as tourists, of the benefits of the industry.

The E.E.C. delegate to the

Pacific, Mike Laidler, said in Suva that it was important that workers in the industry as well as people generally understood the role tourism played in na tional development. The study program would include also the social impact tourism had on the culture and life-style of island peoples.

So far no detailed study has been undertaken throughout the region on how much of the ’’tourist dollar” is retained by the host countries. Estimates range from 40 to 60 per cent.

Part of the E.E.C. project will be to examine this vital financial aspect much more closely.

Study will also be made of existing, and possible future, links between tourism and local enterprises, particularly agricul ture. (In many cases at present Pacific resorts import foods which could be supplied locally if proper attention was given to regularity of supply and qua lity).

The project will also examine transportation problems. Airline schedules are seldom inte grated from one country to another, delays are frequent, and last-minute cancellations far from unknown. Staff Writer