Update from the Division – October 2023

Pacific Greetings and welcome to another monthly update from SPTO’s Division of Sustainable Tourism!

In this October Issue of the Pacific Sustainable Tourism Newsbeat, we provide you with a special edition highlighting the success and key outcomes of the 2023 Pacific Sustainable Tourism Leadership Summit (PSTLS) that was held from the 16th – 17th October 2023 in French Polynesia.

After two days of thought-provoking discussions and learning exchange, the high-level leadership summit provided a set of key outcomes that includes the acknowledgement of the outcomes presented from the inaugural 2023 Pacific Youth Forum on Sustainable Tourism. The outcomes from the Summit are focused on the following:

• Economic empowerment of communities through inclusive tourism development
• Culture ad people-centred approaches to tourism development
• Partnering for green investment for community prosperity through tourism
• Climate financing for Tourism Resilience, and
• Partnering for Success

Additionally, the summit also witnessed the historic launch of the Pacific Sustainable Tourism Standard, setting a new benchmark for sustainable tourism practices. The launch was complemented by a side event to socialize the Standards with Pacific tourism stakeholders, noting the important linkages between the PSTS and ongoing efforts of countries as aspiring sustainable tourism destinations. Other side events highlighted in this issue include the Pacific Ocean Litter Project, Gender Audit and the Pacific Geoparks Initiative.

As usual, the Newsbeat provides some interesting announcements and events including the final consultation of the Pacific Cultural Tourism Guidelines before it ends with useful tips for sustainable tourism practices.

September and October have been busy periods for the Division. We have been involved in the following activities and should you be interested to learn more, please feel free to reach out to us.

• Planning and hosting of the inaugural Pacific Youth Forum on Sustainable Tourism
• Preparation of the Study Tour of geoparks, World Heritage Sites and Biosphere Reserves in Itoigawa and Hakusan, Japan
• Coordinated the sustainable tourism assessment for Levuka Port Town, Fiji and the planning workshop for stakeholders involved in the East Rennell World Heritage Site, Solomon Islands
• Participated in the AVI Webinar on the Pacific Pro-bono initiative and Geoparks in the Pacific
• Planning of the 2nd Pacific Sustainable Tourism Leadership Summit
• Hosting of the Grant Writing Workshops: Getting Started Workshop and Write for Impact Workshop
• American Samoa Plastics Repurposing Workshop and Sustainable Tourism Workshop
• Contribution to 2050 Strategy Implementation Plan

If you would like to access our next e-newsletter, you can sign up here and receive the latest updates from the region on sustainable tourism, including our next issue which will feature the Islands of Tahiti as our country of focus.

Should you have any queries or want your sustainable tourism story featured in the next issue, feel free to contact us at sustainable@spto.org.