Pacific Tourism Organisation Participates In Data Analytics Capacity Building

Data analytics examines large amounts of data to uncover trends, patterns, correlations, and other insights. With today’s technology, analyzing data and getting answers from it almost immediately is possible and extremely helpful in ensuring well-informed decision-making processes.

Pacific Tourism Organisations Manager Research and Statistics Deepak Chand shared these sentiments after completing a two-week training on Data Analytics sponsored by the Indian Technical and Economic Cooperation (ITEC) through the Ministry of External Affairs in India.

Mr Chand also mentioned that the training insights into data analytics tools, such as Excel and Tableau, enabled participants to analyse and use data mining techniques to identify patterns and insights from data and communicate these insights effectively using data visualization techniques.

“The program provided a foundation for data-driven decision-making and demonstrated the value of data analytics in solving real-world problems. It also covered complex and high-level functions, and understanding the applications at an advanced level means that I can use more sophisticated tools and complete tasks and analyze data quickly,” Mr Chand said.

SPTO CEO Christopher Cocker acknowledged the importance of capacity building in data analytics for the tourism industry in the Pacific, adding that participating in these training would also enhance SPTO’s efficiency and productivity relating to data analysis and visualization.

“Having the SPTOs Research and Statistics team equipped with the latest data analytics, techniques, tools, and applications will ensure SPTO can assist our National Tourism Organisations (NTOs) in data collection to better forecast and make informed business decisions,” Mr Cocker highlighted.

As part of the New Zealand government-funded Pacific Digital Tourism Transformation Project (Phase 2), this activity is linked to the Data and Insights pillar of SPTO’s Digital Strategy, which seeks to measure and share research options and insights into the region’s digital activities and programmes.