Pacific Tourism Organisation Empowers Timor Leste Tourism and Industry Stakeholders through Comprehensive Data Training

In today’s tourism industry, using advanced digital technologies and statistical analysis tools is crucial to boosting efficiency. The Pacific Tourism Organisation (SPTO) is dedicated to this goal, as CEO Christopher Cocker highlighted during the Pacific Tourism Data Initiative (PTDI) training launch in Timor Leste this week. He added that this initiative demonstrates SPTO’s commitment to leveraging technology for better decision-making and productivity.

The PTDI activity is a component of the New Zealand Ministry of Foreign Affairs and Trade (NZMFAT) funded SPTO Phase 2 project on Pacific Digital Tourism Transformation, committed to enabling evidence-based decision-making. This is achieved through the annual publication of three pivotal reports: a bi-annual International Visitor Survey (IVS), an annual Business Confidence Index (BCI), and an annual Community Attitude Survey (CAS) from ten Pacific Island nations (Cook Islands, Niue, PNG, Samoa, Solomon Islands, Vanuatu, Tonga, Kiribati, Timor Leste, and FSM-Yap).

This training is a joint effort with the Ministry of Tourism & Environment for Timor Leste, focussing on best practices for collecting essential tourism data. Key participants include representatives from the Research and Statistics Division, the Activities and Products Division of the ministry, the Haburas Foundation, the Immigration Service of Timor-Leste, the National Directorate of Foreign Employment, Autoridade Tributaria, the Central Bank, the Ministry of Finance, the National Directorate of Foreign Employment, Sectoridade Municipal de Dili, National Institute of Statistics and other critical sectors. This cross-sectoral approach ensures comprehensive and practical data collection and analysis.

Mr Cocker shared that guided by the principles of the SPTO Pacific Tourism Statistics Strategy and the SPTO Digital Strategy, the Pacific Tourism Data Initiative (PTDI) and the Pacific Sustainable Tourism Indicators Framework (PSTIF) aim to improve data management processes and procedures for the production, compilation, and dissemination of statistical data, evaluate and improve statistical skills and competencies through the use digital technologies to work in more innovative, more efficient and productive ways.

“Recognizing the importance of continuous improvement, we are conducting comprehensive evaluations of our current statistical skills and competencies. These initiatives reflect SPTO’s dedication to innovation, excellence, and continuous improvement in data management,” Mr Cocker said.

He added that the team to Timor Leste would also collect data for the Pacific Sustainable Tourism Indicators Framework (PSTIF). The PSTIF provides the Pacific and the world with a robust online dashboard that showcases each destination’s performance in sustainable tourism.

“The PSTIF will also provide a medium for each destination to benchmark its performance in tourism and development against other Pacific destinations. Stakeholders’ active participation in providing the data will enable this dashboard to be successful and measure tourism more accurately by looking at economic, social, and environmental indicators,” he added.

“I would also like to extend my sincere gratitude to the Ministry of Tourism and Environment Timor Leste, Tourism Timor Leste, NZMFAT, and all stakeholders directly or indirectly associated with the Tourism sector that have made this training possible. Let’s weave together the power of data because DATA is KING by contributing to informed decision-making and will shape a sustainable and vibrant future for tourism in Timor Leste and the Pacific. Thank you for your dedication and support to this crucial endeavor.”