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TAK presents at Culture Workshop

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The Ministry of Internal Affairs through its Culture & Museum Division held its workshop with the Island Development Officers (IDOs) on Friday 15th August 2019. The main aim of the workshop was to inform and clarify more on the roles of the IDOs as their job description was now extended to providing tour guiding services to the visitors to their islands they worked on.

The Tourism Authority of Kiribati (TAK) was invited to the workshop to deliver a presentation on Tour Guiding processes. Ms. Ereata Benson, Senior Officer, Training, Development and Special Project Unit of TAK attended the workshop and provided further clarity on the importance of the tour guiding and the tour guide’s main roles and responsibilities.

Since the workshop was meant to equip the IDOs with knowledge and skills of a tour guide, the presentation highlighted why tour guides are important in creating quality experiences for visitors to their islands.

The workshop also highlighted the linkages between the Culture & Museum Division and the Tourism Authority of Kiribati, especially the need to fulfil the goals and objectives of the Kiribati Vision for 20 Years (KV20) where Tourism Authority of Kiribati is obliged to support activities related to cultural tourism.

TAK joins Kiritimati Solid Waste Management Subcommittee

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Photo Credit (https://www.iloveqatar.net/recycling-in-qatar)

The Wildlife & Conservation Unit in partnership with the Solid Waste Management Project Office in Kiritimati conducted a meeting to discuss solid waste management challenges in Kiritimati on Tuesday 13th of August 2019 at the Solid Waste Management Coordinator office

The Tourism Authority of Kiribati (TAK) and Kiritimati Urban Council (KUC) are the two key waste management players that were invited to this special meeting to discuss the possibility to establish a subcommittee with the aim to provide advice to the mother committee ways to address illegal waste dumping or waste disposal on the island.

Since Tourism is a prioritized sector under KV20 and Kiritimati island is a world-class fly-fishing destination, TAK was also invited to assist in formulating activities related to sustainable tourism on the island. These include tourism awareness programs such as roadshows, awareness signboards and community consultations.

TAK staff returns from Indonesia Cultural Exchange and Learning Program

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Tourism Officer Ms. Monika Kanimea has returned from the Indonesian Arts & Culture exchange and learning program in the Indonesian capital, Jakarta.

Conducted from 04 May – 19 August 2019, The Indonesian Arts and Culture Scholarship is one of Indonesia’s short-term scholarships that has been offered since 2003, organized by the Ministry of Foreign Affairs and fully funded by the Republic of Indonesia. The program consisted of 72 awardees from different 40 countries across the world including Kiribati.

The aim of this program was to foster a better understanding of Indonesia’s immensely diverse arts and cultural heritage and Ms Kanimea was also positioned in Kutai Kartanegara, of the East Kalimantan province where her learning of the Indonesian culture continued.

Apart from learning the language, local dance and music of Indonesia, Ms. Kanimea also visited numerous cultural tourism attractions of East Kalimantan. These included Mulawarman Museum; formerly known as the place of the Dutch during the 1930s that once was the power base where 19 sultans reigned. The Kumala Island, a small island in the middle of the river used as a recreational park. The Borneo Orangutan Forest Conservation, a non-profit organization that supports the conservation of Bornean Orangutans and their habitats. The Pesut Etam Tourism Boat, a boat that carries more than 50 passengers and goes around Mahakam river in Samarinda where you can see the beauty of this river and other Samarinda tourist destinations as well, and last but not least, the Ladaya Budaya, the place where all cultural outbound activities are carried out.

Ms. Kanimea has now resumed work at TAK and will use the experience and knowledge acquired from Indonesia to help improve the development and marketing of Kiribati arts and cultural through tourism.

Survey to Target Departing Anglers on Kiritimati island

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Christmas Island, Kiribati (Widescenes Photography)

The Tourism Authority of Kiribati (TAK) in Kiritimati island has commenced work on a first ever visitor survey specifically for departing Anglers. The aim of this survey is to capture valuable feedback from anglers on their experiences as fishing is the main niche market for the island.

TAK is collaborating with the Kiritimati Fishing guide operators and they held their first meeting on Friday 2nd of August to discuss the formation of the survey questionnaire.

The survey is scheduled to begin at the commencement of the next fishing season in October 2019 and will run concurrent with the International Visitor Survey (IVS) currently conducted by TAK at Cassidy International Airport in Kiritimati.

Once completed, the Tourism Authority of Kiribati hopes that information collated will present a better understanding of the anglers’ perception of the destination and will allow TAK to make more informed decision about development and promotion of the Kiritimati fishing segment.

Tourism opportunities from good waste management practices

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South Tarawa and Betio will benefit from tourism opportunities if the capital is kept clean and there is collaborative effort for good waste management practices. This was the key message highlighted during the Kiribati Te Boboto Technical Dialogue (Boboto means Beautiful) hosted by the Ministry of Environment, Lands and Agricultural Development (MELAD on 23 August at the Otintaai Hotel.

The technical dialogue was attended to by various government ministries, Island councils (BTC and TUC Clerks), community and church group representatives, business representatives, NGOs and as well as the New Zealand High Commission Office.

 

Tourism Opportunities from Good waste management practices

Tourism Authority of Kiribati Deputy CEO, Ms. Reeti Onorio delivered a presentation on the the impacts of improper Solid wastes disposals on tourism. Key to her message was the disparity between travellers dream of a clean and beautiful tropical island paradise against the current state of cleanliness of most parts of South Tarawa.

In her presentation, Ms. Onorio also shared funding of two international visitor surveys, which listed plastics and bottles, metal and broken cars, and other wastes as their main disappointments in Tarawa. The survey also highlighted negative experiences when travellers visited war relics and some local beaches.

Ms. Onorio emphasised that tourism has a lot of potential to grow and extend its social and economic values nationwide and the image of clean and beautiful capital will help influence our visitor’s perception of Tarawa.

Whilst there were various challenges addressed during the dialogue, there was progressive transition of motivation by village communities and citizens, Government and NGOs to help improve the image of the country.

The Minister of MELAD, Hon. Alexander Teabo stressed the importance of all stakeholders to work together to keep Kiribati Bobotoo. Waste management is everyone’s business and it is only through collaboration and team effort and through a change behavioural habit that South Tarawa and Betio can become a cleaner and more desirable destination.

LDCF-(I) Project, Stakeholders meet in North Tarawa to complete the translation of all the Island Strategic for Abemama, Maiana and Nonouti

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A team of twenty-five (25) government officers has visited Buariki on a weekend from 9th -11th August 2019 for retreat to carry out the translation on all the Island Strategic Plans (ISP) for the pilot islands of LDCF-I project which are Maiana, Abemama and Nonouti.

The retreat was coordinated by the Ministry of Internal Affairs (MIA) through the Local Government Division (LGD). The team comprised of twelve (12) government ministries including, the PSPSM – Public Service Performance and Service Management Division – PSO, KiLGA – the Kiribati Local Government Association, Ministry of Education, Fisheries Division, Culture and Museum, Environment and Conservation Division, Agriculture and Livestock Division, Kiribati National Tourism Office, Ministry of Commerce and Industrial Cooperatives, Ministry of Infrastructure and Sustainable Energy, Ministry of Women, Youth, Sport & Social Affairs and Kiribati Police Services.

LDCF-(I) Project, Stakeholders meet in North Tarawa to complete the translation of all the Island Strategic for Abemama, Maiana and Nonouti

The objective of the retreat is to gather the key technical staffs from concerned Ministries to assist in translating contents of the ISP from Kiribati to English which are relevant to their areas of work so the ISP can be published into both languages that is in English and in vernacular for Kiribati people. It also to attract more external donors to assist on the issues that had been identified to threaten food security on Maiana, Abemama and Nonouti.

A small closing was done on Saturday afternoon to earmark the completion of the ISP translation with the indoor and outdoor games among the participants and then followed by a dinner. The team returned on a Sunday morning on 11th August 2019. The LGD-MIA is now in the plan to finalize and publish the ISP into the English and the vernacular language and it is expected to be published before end of this year and then launch to the island councils of Maiana, Abemama and Nonouti for implementation.

The retreat was supported by the Kiribati LDCF I Project, funded by the Global Environment Facility and implemented under the Environment and Conservation Division with the support of the United Nations Development Programme.

The Tourism Authority of Kiribati is responsible for working with our partners to encourage travelers to come to Kiribati and spend time exploring our country.

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