What do we do?
The Pacific Sustainable Tourism Portal, your hub for sustainable tourism information for the the Pacific Island nations is administered by the Division of Sustainable Tourism of the Pacific Tourism Organisation (SPTO), in collaboration with our 20 Member Countries. Our central mission is to lead, implement, monitor, and report on the Pacific Sustainable Tourism Policy Framework (PSTPF).
The award-winning Pacific 2030 Sustainable Tourism Policy Framework (PSTPF) and its action plan, launched in 2021, will continue to guide our work in this area. It ensures that the region’s tourism goals are strategically aligned with the 2050 Strategy for the Blue Pacific Continent and other key regional policies. Our commitment extends globally, connecting the Pacific’s efforts with international commitments like the Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs), the Paris Agreement, the Glasgow Declaration, and the recent Baku Declaration among others.
The Division’s focus on Sustainable Destination Management is embedded into every part of the SPTO’s operations, creating solid linkages with Marketing Support and Events, Research Coordination and Insights, Partnership Coordination and Support, Capacity Building and Training and Connecting Tourism and Aviation Strategic focuses areas of SPTO for the period 2025-2029. This focus area promotes destination management as a basis for sustainable tourism development. It takes into account the tourism sector’s recovery from COVID-19, the increasing need for destinations to adapt to climate change, and the Pacific Island governments’ ambition to grow their tourism economies as a pathway to resilient development. Destination management is identified in the PSTPF as a key tool to achieve greater development outcomes, balancing economic prosperity with care for people, culture, and planet.
Priority Initiatives for the period 2025-2029:
- Advocate for and support national adaptation and implementation of the Pacific Sustainable Tourism Policy Framework
- Advocate for, identify pathways for, and support implementation of the Pacific Sustainable Tourism Standards and related guidelines
- Advocate for governments to create integrated transport policies for destination readiness
- Advocate for responsible development of cruise and yachting sectors
- Connect Pacific partners with international best practices on responsible tourism development
- Develop sustainable destination planning and management guidelines
- Support the adoption of destination planning and management best practices
- Support national strengthening of tourism governance and tourism associations forcollective action and accountability
- Lead Pacific tourism’s advocacy for action on climate change
- Support the development of quality tourism products through technical advice and best practice guidance
- Coordinate and facilitate training to raise service quality in the Pacific
Meet the Team
Christina Leala-Gale
Sustainable Tourism Manager
Lusia Matairakula
Sustainable Tourism Officer
Miriama Turagava
Sustainable Tourism Project Associate
Filimone Mate
Sustainable Tourism Project Associate
The work of the Division of Sustainable Tourism is guided by the Sustainable Tourism Board Sub Committee which comprises of the following members:
- Karla Eggelton – Cook Islands Tourism
- Erwin Eperenia – Tahiti Tourism
- Adela Issachar Aru – Vanuatu Tourism Office
- Salaseini Daunabuna – Fiji Ministry of Tourism and Civil Aviation
- Tupa’i Robert Ah Sam – Samoa Tourism Authority
- Eric Uvovo Mossman – Papua New Guinea Tourism Promotion Authority
- Bermance Aldis – FSM Department of Resources & Development
- Sandra Fifita – Tonga Ministry of Tourism
- Teura-Marea Caroline Rambault – My Tahiti Escapes
Through the work of the SPTO in sustainable tourism, SPTO is affiliated with the following organisations:
- UN Tourism: Affiliate Member
- Global Sustainable Tourism Council: NGO Member
- Global Islands Partnership: Member