Department of Tourism backs Gaua Tourism Association as Liumoros Water Music mamas take Vanuatu’s kastom overseas

Monday, 21st September 2026 – Port Vila: The Department of Tourism (DOT) is supporting the Gaua Tourism Association to enable five mamas of the Liumoros Water Music Group of East Gaua, Torba Province, to travel overseas and perform Gaua’s water music before international audiences.

The support follows a request from the Association to the Department and reflects the Department’s commitment to standing behind registered, licensed and accredited community tourism operators in the outer islands as they take their products to new markets.

Water music: a living tradition of Gaua

Water music is one of Vanuatu’s most distinctive cultural expressions. Standing waist deep in the sea or a river, the mamas of Gaua strike, cup and sweep the surface of the water to produce rhythms and melodies that accompany traditional songs, a practice passed from mother to daughter through generations. The Liumoros Water Music Group is a registered tourism operator and holds a tourism accreditation permit issued by the Department, offering visitors to Gaua an authentic cultural experience rooted in the island’s heritage.

Overseas performances give the group the opportunity to present this tradition to new audiences, build demand for Torba Province as a destination and bring income back to their families and community in East Gaua.

Investing in community-based cultural tourism

“Water music belongs to the mamas of Gaua and it belongs to Vanuatu. The Gaua Tourism Association has built a product the whole country can be proud of, and the Department is pleased to help these five mamas take it to the world,” Director of the Department of Tourism, Mr. Paul Pio, said. “Every time they perform overseas they are ambassadors for Torba Province and for Vanuatu, and the visibility they create translates into visitors, bookings and income for outer island communities. This is exactly the kind of accredited, community-owned cultural product the Department wants to see grow.”

Acting Manager of the Torba Tourism Office, Mr. Kevineth Garae, said the sponsorship recognised the work the Gaua Tourism Association and the Liumoros group have put into building a professional cultural product. “The Liumoros mamas have done everything the Department asks of a tourism operator. They are registered, licensed and accredited, and they have kept water music alive as a visitor experience on Gaua. Torba is the most remote province in the country, and this support shows that the Department stands behind our operators no matter where they are,” Mr. Garae said. “We encourage other communities in Torba with a cultural product to work with the Torba Tourism Office to register, become accredited and open the door to the same opportunities.”

The Department’s support to the Liumoros Water Music Group reflects its commitment under the Vanuatu Sustainable Tourism Policy 2030 to community-based and cultural tourism in the outer islands, distributing the benefits of tourism beyond Port Vila and giving Vanuatu’s living cultures a place on the international stage.