Solomon Islands Tourism Team meets new Minister for Culture & Tourism

Honiara, Solomon Islands – Pictured at his first meeting with the team responsible for driving the Solomon Islands tourism agenda, the country’s newly appointed Minister for Culture & Tourism (MCT), the Hon. James Bonuga.

Minister Bonuga took time out from his already busy schedule to meet MCT Permanent Secretary (PS), Bunyan Sivoro, MCT Director of Tourism, Greg Auta’a, and Tourism Solomons Acting CEO, Dagnal Dereveke and his team at the NTO’s head office in Honiara.

Welcoming Minister Bonuga to his new portfolio, PS Sivoro took the opportunity to provide an update outlining the organisation’s mandates, relevant acts and regulations pertaining to the portfolio and current strategic plans.

This included a briefing on Tourism Solomons’ current marketing focus and an overview of international visitor arrival performance which last year topped off at 28,548, an increase of more than 13 precent and just 382 shy of the record-breaking 28,930 figure recorded in 2019.

The minister was also appraised of the Solomon Islands current destination positioning and the strength of its key unique selling points (USPs) and how these guide the NTO’s strategic direction and shape marketing activities.

Noting the challenges that remain for the sector and emphasising the need for stronger collaboration between MCT, Tourism Solomons and the wider tourism sector, Minister Bonuga expressed his appreciation for the update, acknowledged the strong work and results already achieved and said he was looking forward to working constructively with the tourism team going forward.

Minister Bonuga replaces outgoing MCT Minister, the Hon. Choylin Yim Douglas, the first woman to hold the portfolio, who was appointed to the role in 2024.

Ms Yim Douglas also played a key role in helping to secure the largest tourism budget in Solomon Islands history, increasing funding from an annual SBD10 million to SBD46 million.