Strong recognition for the Solomon Islands on the international tourism stage and huge kudos for Tourism Solomons with CEO, Josefa ‘Jo’ Tuamoto invited to join the Pacific Asia Travel Association (PATA) executive board.

The move follows Mr Tuamoto’s attendance at the ‘PATA Annual Summit 2019’ in Cebu, Philippines, last week where, taking part in a leadership debate, he gave an impassioned presentation on the United Nation Sustainable Development Goal 8 – ‘Sustainable economic growth and decent jobs for all’.

The presentation, delivered in conjunction with his counterpart from the Guam Visitors Bureau, received a standing ovation from the hundreds of delegates attending the event.

Following this at the organisation’s annual general meeting, Mr Tuamoto was invited by PATA chair, Dr Chris Bottrill and the executive to join the board as a director, in the process becoming the first-ever Fijian to achieve the honour.

Describing the invitation as a “real feather in the cap” not just for the Solomon Islands but the entire Pacific region, CEO Tuamoto said he was extremely humbled by the invitation and to have so much trust placed in his hands by the leadership of the Asia-Pacific’s most highly respected travel industry organisation.

“This is indeed a prestigious honour and I would like to express my extreme gratitude for being given this amazing opportunity,” Mr Tuamoto said.

“Being appointed to the executive board and being able to contribute further to an organisation that does so much to help develop tourism-oriented opportunity for the Solomon Islands and beyond, to the entire Pacific region is indeed a privilege.”

The invitation to join the PATA board represents yet another major career milestone for Mr Tuamoto.

Prior to joining the then Solomon Island Visitors Bureau in 2013, he already had a strong profile on the international tourism scene.

As former CEO of Tourism Fiji, his vast overseas experience with the Fijian national tourist office included stints as Regional Director for both Australia and The Americas prior to his appointment to the dual CEO and international marketing director roles in 2008.

While with Tourism Fiji Mr Tuamoto was the catalyst and took personal management responsibility for the international repositioning of Fiji’s international tourism profile under the highly successful ‘Fiji Me’ branding.

He replicated that success on behalf of the Solomon Islands in mid-2018 as the driving force behind the move to rebrand Tourism Solomons and the concurrent launch of the extremely well-received and highly distinctive ‘Solomons Is.’ branding.

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Mr Tuamoto’s activity on the regional tourism landscape includes the role of deputy chair for the South Pacific Tourism Organisation.

On the commercial front, his experience includes Director of Commercial Operations and a managing director role with the iconic Fiji-based Blue Lagoon Cruises.

He has also acted as a senior consultant to government bodies and major private sector organisations in several countries across the South Pacific region.

A graduate in mathematics and physics from the University of the South Pacific, Mr Tuamoto holds an MBA from the University of Wales in Cardiff.

He has also completed management studies at Harvard Business School in Massachusetts, the Wharton Business School in Pennsylvania, and the University of Hawaii.

Sri Lanka’s State Minister Harsha de Silva announced that the country is planning an independent security audit to build confidence among tourists. According to the Minister, the measure was necessary after extremists linked to Islamic State bombed churches and hotels on Easter Sunday.

“After conducting an independent security audit, embassies and tourist boards of foreign countries will encourage tourism,” he told parliament.

“Spending millions on advertising is worthless if we cannot be responsible for tourist safety.”

De Silva said it would be worse if assurances were given too quickly and another incident took place.

Tourism officials have said 37 nations have issued travel advisories cautioning citizens.

Security authorities have said rapid progress is being made with most of the extremists directly linked to the bombings having been killed or arrested, many safe houses closed, while more action is being taken.

Sri Lanka’s tourist arrivals had plunged 60 percent in the first week of March, but officials are planning a recovery campaign.

Chairman of Sri Lanka’s Tourism Promotions Bureau Kishu Gomez said an international agency with experience in working with tourism-linked disasters will be hire to carry out a short and medium term campaign.

Though major travel companies have stopped selling Sri Lanka independent travelers are coming, officials said.

For more information on the SaferTourism program by eTN Corporation and Dr. Peter Tarlow, visit visit safertourism.com. Dr. Tarlow is a world-renowned expert in the field of tourism security and safety, working for over 2 decades with hotels, tourism-oriented cities and countries, and both public and private security officers and police in the field of tourism security.

The housing conditions of hotel workers is of particular concern to me. In fact, a recent survey indicated that over 88% of the workers in the sector cannot even access National Housing Trust (NHT) housing solutions. Subsequently, we have searched long and hard for a formula that can provide affordable housing for our workers and we are proud of the policy shift that the Prime Minister has announced with regards to the NHT menu of benefits which will see:

• An increase in Loan Limit
• Reduced Interest Rates on NHT mortgages
• Intergenerational mortgages
• And Increase in Construction Loan Limit for NHT lots

In 2009, the Tourism Enhancement Fund (TEF) along with the Housing Agency of Jamaica (HAJ) earmarked, $1 billion, for upgrading housing solutions for tourism workers. Among the things that were done was the acquisition of 250 acres of land by the TEF which was handed over to HAJ towards a Brownfield development and a Greenfield housing project in the Grange Pen area of St. James. This program has now been restarted.

Recently we broke ground for the Resort Squatter Settlements Upgrade Project – Grange Pen, Brownfield, St. James. The HAJ will oversee the infrastructural upgrade for the regularization of 535 households in the Grange Pen community.

In addition the HAJ signed with a Chinese developer, Henen Construction, to build 754 units in the Rhyne Park area at a price point ranging from J$7.9 million to J$18 million for 1-3 bedroom units which will allow the ordinary average worker to afford housing.  Ground is to be broken this month for this development. The Greenfield development for Grange Pen is in the tender process and will see an additional 1000 units which will make a total of 1700 units available at the lowest possible price points for tourism workers.

This is the model we will replicate across the tourism belt to be followed by Whitehall in Negril next year.

Our tourism workers deserve to live in clean, orderly, structured and safe communities with appropriate infrastructure. We will go beyond the call of duty to make this a norm across the island.

Tourism Workers’ Pension Scheme

Another critical prong in improving the welfare of our tourism workers is the establishment of the long awaited pension scheme. For too long, too many of our tourism workers have retired with no social safety net.

The Tourism Workers Pension Bill has been tabled and on May 21 will be debated. This brings us one step closer to having the first comprehensive pension plan for all tourism workers. This will make Jamaica a world leader in providing tourism worker social security.

The pension plan is a defined contributory plan supported by legislation and will require mandatory contributions by workers and employers. The plan will cover all workers ages 18-59 years in the tourism sector, whether permanent, contract or self-employed.  Benefits will be payable at age 65 years or older.

Initially for the first two years the contribution will be 3% of gross salary to be matched by the employer and 5% thereafter. My Ministry, is providing $1 billion to seed the fund so that immediate benefit can accrue to qualified pensioners who have met the vested period of five years. These Pensioners will receive a minimum pension of J$200,000 per year.

This Pension Plan embraces everyone in the sector, whether he or she be red cap, front desk manager, craft trader, housekeeper, rafts men or any other category of worker in the industry including those who are self-employed. This represents inarguably the biggest human capital development related game changer in the tourism sector in Jamaica’s history.

Closing

My Ministry, driven by data and global trends, is finding the tools and programs to re-imagine tourism. This re-imagining has become even more critical given rapid global changes in the industry and beyond. We recognize that if we are to continue our successes and remain top of mind, our tourism workers must be at the forefront of this re-imagining. We are therefore committed to ensuring they are given the necessary tools to not just do well but thrive.

Jamaica’s Minister of Tourism, Hon. Edmund Bartlett says for the Caribbean Hotel Investment Conference and Operations Summit (CHICOS) to be truly relevant to the region it must look beyond investments in accommodation and encourage investment in experiential marketing arrangements that will keep the Caribbean competitive and cutting edge at all times.

Minister Bartlett pointed out that while 15,000 rooms are to be constructed in the next five years, “the essence of tourism for the Caribbean is not about building more rooms, it is about building the capacity of the region to absorb the demand that tourism brings.”

“This capacity resides in our ability to invest more in the experiences that are consumed by the visitor because those experiences tend to be local and these local experiences are owned by the people of the region. It is that ownership of the indigenous experiences that allows for the retention of the dollar in our space,” he noted.

The Tourism Minister was giving the main address at the CHICOS press launch yesterday (May 7) at the Terra Nova Hotel, Kingston. The conference, considered a must-attend annual event for anyone interested in tourism and hospitality in the Caribbean, will be held from November 14-15 at Secrets Resorts in Montego Bay.

Pointing out that people travel to fulfil their passions, Minister Bartlett noted that 88% of the world travels for food experiences and 42% of travelers’ total expenditure is on food while 67% of the world travels for shopping experiences. Health and wellness, sport and entertainment and knowledge were some of the other passion points that motivate people to travel.

“So I want to encourage you in planning the conference to pitch the supply side – what the tourist consumes when they get to the destination. Hotel rooms and accommodation are only the places where visitors sleep. The tourist does not travel to sleep. So sleeping is not the issue; the issue is experiences,” Minister Bartlett said, noting that this was how the Ministry was able to increase the tourism dollar retention from 30% to 40.8% in the last three and a half years.

In his address, State Minister in the Ministry of Industry, Commerce, Agricultural, Hon. Floyd Green said that while the tourism sector continues to show rapid annual growth, there have also been deliberate and prioritized key initiatives to facilitate local and foreign direct investments to drive growth of the Jamaican economy, including the tourism sector.

One of these initiatives is the National Investment Policy (NIP), which once finalized will act as a comprehensive policy framework to guide the development, administration and monitoring of the investment community. The other initiatives are implementation of the National Business Portal (NBP), an online platform that will house the Business-to-Government (B2G) online interface for all Government entities involved in the investment or business facilitation process as well as a drive to achieve a Top 10 rank in the 2021 Doing Business Report (DBR).

The two-day conference will bring together some 300 regional and international delegates, including governmental representatives, developers, bankers, tourism officials, hotel industry leaders, to explore possibilities for hospitality development in Jamaica and in the wider Caribbean.

Jamaica Promotions Corporation (JAMPRO) is a planning partner for the conference along with AM Resorts, HVS Global Hospitality Services and Apple Leisure Group. Sponsors include the Jamaica Tourist Board and the Tourism Enhancement Fund.

Jamaica’s Tourism Minister, Hon Edmund Bartlett will deliver remarks at the launch of the Caribbean Hotel Investment Conference & Operations Summit (CHICOS).

The event brings together nearly 300 regional and international investors and operators, as well as the region’s leading decision makers.

Attendees network and discuss the region’s markets and possibilities, while analyzing the most important trends that can impact their investment decisions.

The 2019 staging will take place in Montego Bay, Jamaica from November 14 – 15.

WHAT: Launch of the Caribbean Hotel Investment Conference and Operations Summit

WHEN: Tuesday, May 07, 2019 beginning at 10:00 a.m.

WHERE: The Pavilion, Terra Nova All-Suite Hotel, 17 Waterloo Rd, Kingston

African Tourism Board (ATB) CEO Doris Woerfel and Cuthbert Ncube, the new Vice President of ATB, met with Mwabashike Nkulukus, the Marketing Director of the Zambia Tourism Agency, today at Indaba, the largest travel industry trade show in South Africa, currently taking place in Durban.

Cuthbert Ncube told eTurboNews: “We had a very successful meeting and agreed on a need to a more synergized approach in the Southern African region.”

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Zambia is calling for the African Tourism Board to implement and drive the inclusiveness approach. Priding Zambia with its geographic advantage location linking with 6 African nations, it is ideally situated to cooperate in the field of travel and tourism and every region’s exclusive products.

Mr. Mwabashike emphasized the need to have a brotherhood approach to help Africa to understand its full potential. The Zambia Tourism director was in full support of this great initiative and was looking forward to being part of the African Tourism Board.

In 2014  Mr. Nkulukusa joins the Zambia Tourism Board with over 10 years of industrial experience predominantly in the global tertiary education and tourism markets. His recent roles included that of Marketing Manager at the Australian Institute of Business and Technology (AIBT), Business Development Manager at the Zambia Centre for Accountancy Studies (ZCAS) and Tourism and Investment Marketing Lecturer at the Zambia Institute of Diplomacy and International Studies (ZIDIS). Among other qualifications, Mr. Nkulukusa holds a Postgraduate Diploma in Marketing from the Chartered Institute of marketing (CIM) and an MBA in Global Corporate Strategies from Cyprus. He is also a fellow and member of the Zambia Institute of Marketing (ZIM) and CIM respectively. ATM is confident that Mr. Nkulukusa brings to the Zambian tourism industry and its stakeholders elaborate experience, dedication, and passion as he has demonstrated throughout his career.

Founded in 2018, the African Tourism Board is an association that is internationally acclaimed for acting as a catalyst for the responsible development of travel and tourism to, from, and within the African region. For more information and how to join, visit africantourismboard.com.

The launch of the “One Seychelles” Political Party was held on Friday the 26th April and Alain St.Ange, the island’s former Minister for Tourism, Civil Aviation, Ports and Marine was elected to lead the party as they prepare for the coming elections. St.Ange is joined by former Minister Peter Sinon who held the Fisheries portfolio after returning to Seychelles from the African Development Bank.  St.Ange is the current president of the African Tourism Board. The following were elected to serve on the Executive Committee of the ‘One Seychelles’ party:

PRESIDENT:- Alain St.Ange
SECRETARY GENERAL:- Peter Sinon
TREASURER:- Vincent Padayachy
DEPUTY SECRETARY GENERAL:- Claude Bonte
COMMITTEE MEMBERS:- Bernard Port Louis,  Sandra Boniface, Herve Anthony, Edouard Anacoura, Justin Francois, Brian Soumery, Ian Delorie,  Allan Ah-Thion, Marinette Tamatave, Brondy Hertel, Dorina Vidot, Jean Barra, Jean-Claude Denis, Michou Delorie-Walsh, Antoine Puren, Emmanuel de Stefani, Dean Padayachi & Benjamin Port Louis.

After the election of Office Bearers of the new political party Alain St.Ange and Peter Sinon, the President and Secretary General of the “One Seychelles” political party took to the podium to address the full house of interested Seychellois present with numbers far surpassing all their expectations.

Peter Sinon, the Secretary General of “One Seychelles” explained the Party’s Manifesto and spoke at length on unity for Seychelles and safeguarding the islands.

When Alain St.Ange, the President off the “One Seychelles” political party took to the podium he started by saying that the 26th April 2019 would remain a historical day in Seychelles Politics with the launch of the “One Seychelles” party. Alain St.Ange went on to welcome the leaders of the “Lalyans Seselwa” Party of Patrick Pillay who were present to show solidarity in the opposition. He also thanked everyone present who had come forward from the red or green political camps.

“Today everyone present we have visited you at home, or we have interacted with you for the creation of a new Seychelles. This move will not please everyone especially those who believe they have a monopoly on ideas and on what is needed for the people of Seychelles. This cannot be an attitude for anyone who believes in democracy and what a democratic society stands for. They should buy a Monopoly Board Game and play it at home someone on Praslin said. We have named this new political party ‘One Seychelles’ because it is to push the point that we all have only one Seychelles, and the time has come to do away with the ‘with us and not with us’ policy that has been destroying our country. This policy is worst today than ever before and resulting with so many capable Seychellois not being able to do their bit to keep Seychelles on the road of success and in so doing earn a decent living for themselves and their family.

The countdown begins for the 5th World Forum on Gastronomy Tourism to be held on 2 and 3 May in Donostia-San Sebastián, organized by the World Tourism Organization (UNWTO) and the Basque Culinary Center (BCC). International experts will analyze and discuss the influence and capacity of gastronomy tourism to create employment and promote entrepreneurship and how to increase its potential in the future. Registration to attend the forum is still open here.

Stimulating employment

The Forum will explore how the most favorable frameworks can be created in order to stimulate job creation and entrepreneurship throughout the gastronomy tourism value chain. In addition, the speakers will try to identify the most relevant skills for this type of tourism, which should foster synergies among emerging companies, promote the inclusion of disadvantaged groups and take full account of digitalization. The event will bring together speakers and experts from all regions of the world, as well as internationally renowned Basque chefs such as Elena Arzak, who is a UNWTO Ambassador for Responsible Tourism and joint head chef of the restaurant Arzak, and Andoni Luis Aduriz.
In addition, the event will host the presentation of the UNWTO/BCC Guidelines for the Development of Gastronomy Tourism.

The forum will open with a high-level panel with ministers and secretaries of state from countries that have included gastronomy tourism as part of their strategies, such as Cyprus, Slovenia or Spain, among others. Under the theme, “Public policies as key ingredients to promote gastronomy tourism”, the participants will discuss the necessary political framework for the development of gastronomy tourism as well as its capacity to create jobs and promote entrepreneurship.

In addition to shedding light on the competencies needed to meet the demands of gastronomy tourists, the sessions will encourage the creation of environments that stimulate entrepreneurship, that connect emerging companies and better integrate disadvantaged groups in the labour market. Issues related to local communities or to under-represented groups, such as women, youth and persons with disabilities, will also be discussed. In addition, topics such as the digitalization of the sector will also be analyzed in order to identify the new opportunities they offer to companies. In addition, the latest advances in the creation of the necessary framework to stimulate entrepreneurship will be presented, connecting the different ecosystems with the startups that are part of the value chain of gastronomy tourism.

In this context, the five finalist startups of the First Global Gastronomy Tourism Startup Competition, organized by the UNWTO and the BCC, will present the most innovative projects in line with the UNWTO’s strategy and the contribution of gastronomy tourism t

People in Sudan are tasting freedom for the first time. It will be impossible to go back and tourism is a way to eventually rebuild the confidence and economy of this great nation.African Tourism Board (ATB) president Alain St. Ange had monitored what is happening in Sudan.

He said: “The situation that Sudan is facing needs for Africa as a whole to understand their dilemma and to be by their side.

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The Government change in Sudan now needs to move to the reconstruction phase and enable their tourism industry players to rally and put the economy on the road of consolidation.

The USPs (Unique Selling Points) of Sudan are really sought after assets. Their pyramids are some of the biggest in the world and their underwater world in Sudan’s Red Sea remains a real gem.Members of the Sudan tourism industry are invited to join the African Tourism Board without charge. The African Tourism Board remains committed to being by their side.Currently, there are four members from Sudan registered in the ATB Directory

In the meantime, African Union leaders Tuesday have given Sudan’s transitional military council three months to achieve power transfer to civilian rule stressing that this delay should not be prolonged.

The meeting convened by the Egyptian Abdel Fattah al-Sisi who is also the Chairperson of the African Union in Cairo attended by the leaders of Chad, Djibouti, Somalia, South Africa, Ethiopia’s deputy prime minister, head of African Union Commission, foreign ministers and presidential envoys of Kenya, Nigeria, South Sudan and Uganda.

The meeting was held on the backdrop of a two-week delay given to the Sudanese military council by the Peace and Security of the African Union to hand over power to civilian rule.

The consultative meeting was briefed by Moussa Faki chairperson of the AU commission and who was in a two-day visit in Khartoum to assess the situation and met with the Sudanese stakeholders.

“The participating countries recognized the need to give more time to the Sudanese authorities and the Sudanese parties to implement these measures, taking into consideration that they will not be lengthy, and recommended that the African Peace and Security Council extend the schedule given to the Sudanese authority for three months,” said the statement.

After a meeting held with the military council last Saturday, the Freedom and Change forces decided to suspend talks with the military accusing them of working to reproduce the regime of President Omer al-Bashir and refusing to recognize their revolutionary legitimacy.

The head of the TMC political committee Omer Zain al-Din who negotiate with the opposition forces for his part says that they want only to establish a comprehensive government representing the whole political spectrum.

The meeting stressed that the Sudanese authorities and the political forces should work together in good faith to address the current situation in Sudan and to speed up the reestablishment of a constitutional regime.

This democratic political dialogue should be owned and led by the Sudanese themselves, “including all Sudanese parties including the armed movements,” further stressed the statement.

The Sudanese opposition groups said they will mobilize the street to press the military to fully respond to their demands.

However, some point to the need to get rid of Islamist generals in the military council as a condition to compose with the Sudanese military on the formation of the transitional institutions.

Nepal is known as a country of beauty and resilience when it comes to the travel and tourism industry. Nepal is also known to have some of the most dedicated people running their nations tourism industry. Many of them will be attending ITB travel trade show in Berlin from March 6-10  to celebrate one of their own tourism hero, the late Nepal Minister for Culture, Tourism, and Civil Aviation, Rabindra Adhikari.

The Nepal Tourism Board in cooperation with the Nepal Embassy in Berlin has planned a launch event of “Visit Nepal 2020” at a VIP dinner on March 7 on the sidelines of ITB and organized by the eTN Corporation.

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There will be 252 VIPs in attendance, including several ministers of tourism including Jamaica Tourism Minister Edmund Bartlett, who is the person behind the global tourism resilient initiative. There will be ambassadors, the former UNWTO secretary general Taleb Rifai, top Nepal travel suppliers (buyers and sellers), and media from around the world who have registered to attend.

The ITB Launch for Visit Nepal 2020 will be dedicated to the late Nepal Minister for Culture, Tourism, and Civil Aviation, Rabindra Adhikari.

He was instrumental in the finalization of “Visit Nepal 2020” and had been working endlessly till last week to make this important milestone a success.

The late Nepal Minister for Culture, Tourism, and Civil Aviation, Rabindra Adhikari was to attend the dinner in Berlin, but less than a week before the launch, he passed away in a tragic helicopter accident after visiting a new airport project and a temple in Southern Nepal.

Nepal Tourism officials put great thought into whether or not they should move forward with the event at ITB or if it would be appropriate to delay due to the Minister’s death. After careful consideration, it was decided that the hard work of their late minister would be his best legacy, and they came to the consensus to go forward with the “Visit Nepal 2020” event on Thursday.

In honor of Minister Adhikari’s vision, this planned evening of culture and Nepalese cuisine will now also be an evening to gather and remember the late Minister Rabindra Adhikari with respect for his tireless efforts and gratitude for his foresight for the future of Nepal’s tourism industry.

After taking the helm at the Ministry in February of last year, Adhikari, 49, had undertaken a series of policies to reform Nepal’s civil aviation sector. He took prompt steps to improve conditions at Nepal’s only international airport, Tribhuvan International Airport, and pursued the reactivation of several domestic airports. Adhikari also held several rounds of talks with the European Aviation Safety Agency (EASA) which recognized some of the steps he had taken on the safety of Nepal travel.

The year 2020 was chosen as the national tourism year of Nepal after the year 2011 which was the primary authority tourism year of the new Federal Democratic Republic of Nepal. The government and tourism department of Nepal authoritatively reported that Nepal will take the year 2020 as “Visit Nepal 2020,” a year committed to the tourism industry of Nepal with the vision of making a reasonable brand picture of Nepal as a travel and vacation destination. This vision supports the tourism foundation of Nepal, enhances the growth of the nation’s tourism industry, and enriches local tourism as a supportable industry.

Beginning in 2016 and 2017, the government began making arrangements and laying a foundation to formally initiate the open connection program for “Visit Nepal 2020.”

The legislature aims to accommodate more than one million visitors amid the year of this important Tourism program.

For more information on the launch event, go to buzz.travel/nepal.