Tahiti Asks What Kind Of Tourism Development Do We Want At The Regional Level?

President Edouard Fritch opened on Monday morning the Pacific Economic Cooperation Council (PECC) seminar on sustainable and responsible tourism, with several members of the government and Pascal Lami , former Director General of the Trade Organization (2005-2013).
Comprised of twenty-five riparian and Pacific island countries, the PECC welcomes the French Pacific island territories as associate members. This non-governmental organization brings together all the countries of the Pacific, and proposes a permanent forum of consultation bringing together academics, business leaders, representatives of administrations and public authorities, in order to improve regional and international understanding and to promote exchanges in the Pacific Basin. The members of the PECC propose regional policies with the objective of contributing to stable economic development in the region and facing the major challenges that it focuses on the international scene.
Organized during two days, under the aegis of the Country, through notably the Ministry of Tourism, this seminar will discuss the opportunities and the constraints of the various regional initiatives in sustainable and responsible tourism development. ”  He asks us about the type of tourism development that we want to promote and the cooperation we want to implement to achieve it at the level of our region,  ” said President Fritch.
Indeed, the Pacific countries have their own specificities but are faced with problems to which the governments of the region must provide answers, particularly with regard to the preservation and enhancement of traditional sites, spaces or lifestyles. In his opening remarks, the President emphasized the importance of working together to build and develop synergies to sustainably and exemplarily strengthen Pacific tourism, while promoting economic and social development.
During this seminar, participants will take a cross-cutting approach to environmental protection issues – a topic of concern to island states and territories – as well as to professionals in the tourism sector, but also tourists themselves. ”  Our visitors feel more and more concerned and seek during their stay a nature if not totally intact, at least preserved,  ” said President Fritch. As a result, he explained that the sustainability of tourism depends on respect and the protection of the environment and cultural heritage.
Finally, the President recalled that since 2015 the government has developed and implemented a tourism development strategy that places the Polynesian and its environment at the heart of its actions. This seminar organized in Polynesia is the second in a series of three organized on the theme of the circular economy as a factor of economic growth.
The last of the three meetings, focused on sustainable and responsible economic growth for cities, will be held in Singapore in 2018.
Government Communiqué
 
(Source: Tahiti News Tourism 20 November 2017)