Capacity Building – Page 5 – Kaongora Newsletter

First Virtual Tourism Digital Workshop for Kiribati

April 29, 2020 by Taare Rikiai

The Tourism Authority of Kiribati (TAK) in partnership with the Pacific Trade and Invest (PTI) Australia and World Hotel Link (WHL) hosted the country’s first ever Virtual Digital Tourism Workshop on the 28 April 2020. The half day webinar was attended by tourism operators from Tarawa, Abaiang and Kiritimati and was hosted at the Vodafone boardroom in Bairiki.

The webinar is part of the TAK’s capacity building initiative for industry partners and stakeholders during this COVID-19 pandemic.

The aim of the webinar was to offer training on effective website management and how such a tool can be better used to improve sales and profitability. Topics of this online session included the importance of knowing the online buying cycle, critical functionality/features of a website to boost sales and revenue and booking engine management.

Attendees appreciated the relevance of the webinar and acknowledged that it will add value to their respective organisations.

Through the webinar, PTI also reconfirmed its COVID-19 digital marketing relief package which includes the complimentary development of new business websites for tourism operators currently without one and a discounted monthly website maintenance fees for operators whose websites were developed by WHL.

TAK will roll out other capacity building programs to help upskill industry partners during this current global pandemic.

TAK participates in the Regional Tourism Statistic workshop

March 30, 2020March 30, 2020 by Taare Rikiai

Kiribati was represented by TAK at the workshop held in Nadi Fiji, from 10^th-13^th March with the goal of developing a regional tourism statistics strategy as well as a regional sustainable tourism framework for the Pacific.

The first 2 days of the workshop aimed at validating the findings from a regional assessment of tourism statistical systems and getting feedback from the countries on the recommendations and actions to improve tourism statistical systems at regional and national level.

The assessment was carried out by PARIS21 – a global partnership of statistics experts and policy makers seeking to improve evidence-based decision making in developing countries in collaboration with the Pacific Tourism Organisation. The assessment was carried out in October and November of 2019 and the draft report was presented for validation at the workshop.

The last 2 days of the workshop aimed at obtaining stakeholder feedback on the long-term vision and priorities that will underpin the development of a regional sustainable tourism framework for the Pacific.

The outcomes from the workshops will be endorsed at the SPTO Board of Directors meeting later in the year.

Representatives from 11 SPTO-member National Tourism Organizations and selected National Statistics Offices were present at the workshop along with 6 partners which include PARIS21, the Asian Development Bank, The Pacific Community, the United Nations Development Programme (Pacific Office, Suva), the United Nations Economic and Social Commission for Asia and the Pacific and the Australia Pacific Training Coalition.

The workshop was jointly funded by PARIS21, SPTO, the New Zealand Ministry of Foreign Affairs and Trade and APTC.

TAK Participates in KDP SOE Consultation Workshop

March 12, 2020 by George Kumkee

11 March 2020

The Tourism Authority of Kiribati (TAK) participated in a 2 days Kiribati Development Plan (KDP) 2020-2023 State Owned Entities (SOE) consultation workshop that was organized by the National Economic Planning Office of the Ministry of Finance and Economic Development on 10 – 11 March 2020.

TAK used the workshop to present its mandate and discussed the key challenges it faces and opportunities that the Organisation can use to deliver its services efficiently.

The workshop also highlighted the need for SOEs to collaborate and TAK has taken the lead to engage in further discussions with selected SOEs whose services can help improve productivity for Tourism SMEs and operators.

In his presentation, TAK CEO, Petero Manufolau emphasized value of collaboration across State Owned Entities and as well as government sectors, particularly in areas where cross overs and similar goals can be identified.

The workshop concluded with SOE sector discussions to highlight common challenges and opportunities that exist in different sectors and identify ways to mitigate challenges and capitalize on opportunities.

Hospitality Training for Ronton and Tabwakea Village in Kiritimati Island

February 27, 2020 by Taare Rikiai

Two villages in Kiritimati Island, Ronton and Tabwakea received training on Hospitality Services from the Tourism Authority of Kiribati on the 29th to 31st of January and 19th to 21st of February 2020.

Ronton was the first village to receive the training which was conducted on the 29th to 31st of January with 13 participants attending the training while 29 participants from Tabwakea Village attended the training that was conducted on the 19th to 21st of February 2020.

The main purpose of the training was to provide basic skills and knowledge on hospitality services to those who are interested to work at any tourism and hospitality sectors in the future. Three areas of hospitality services that were carried out during the training which were; customer service, basic front office skills and basic housekeeping skills.

Community Tourism Promotion Training in Japan

February 27, 2020February 27, 2020 by Taare Rikiai

The Community Tourism Promotion training was held on the 28^th January 2020 and ended on the 12^th February 2020, and was funded by Japan International Cooperation Agency (JICA), the short-term training was under the JICA knowledge Co-Creation Program for Young Leaders. This short training targeted different participants from different Pacific Island Countries (Fiji, Marshall Islands, Kiribati, Palau, Papua New Guinea, Solomon Islands, Tonga and Vanuatu).

The training was attended by different participants from different Pacific Island Countries mentioned earlier and was also attended by one of the staff at the Tourism Authority of Kiribati. The main purpose of the training is to train Pacific Island Countries Young Leaders on the basic knowledge and skills on Ecotourism, tourism promotion and community involvement in tourism at different regions in Japan. The three visited sites in Japan are Obihiro, Kushiro and Akan region. The training contents contains a very informative information concerning tourism promotion involving local communities, it also covers basic knowledge and skills and other important scenarios concerning Ecotourism and Community Tourism Promotion which can be adopted in the Pacific which can therefore help boost tourism promotion in the Pacific.

The training was conducted first at the JICA center in Obihiro on the 28^th January till 1^st February 2020, then the training group transferred from Obihiro JICA Center to Kushiro region on the 1^st February 2020 till 12^th February 2020. On the 5^th February the group then visited Akan Lake Resorts for learning more about the Community Tourism Promotion and also to experience the Ice Lake activities.

On the 12^th February 2020, a formal completion ceremony was held at the Kushiro City Central Library Hall where participants awarded with the certification of completion. The Completion Ceremony marks the end of the short-term training on the Community Tourism Promotion.

PASTRY TRAINING EVALUATION

February 21, 2020February 20, 2020 by George Kumkee

The Tourism Authority of Kiribati (TAK) conducted the first evaluation of its pastry trained hotel staffs at the George Hotel on Wednesday 19 February 2020. This is part of the follow-on program for all tourism and hospitality personnel that participated in the pastry training conducted by TAK at the end 2019.

The purpose of the evaluation is to gauge whether the training provided has added value to the participant’s work. It is also an opportune time for the TAK to ascertain further training needs of services staff in the various hotels and lodges covered in the program.

George hotel kitchen staff Chef Teetu Rota said that since the training, he has been able to improve in their breakfast which now includes a selection of the pastries daily. This he says has been greatly appreciated by their guests. Furthermore, Chef Rota is now able to include selection on pastries in their morning and afternoon team menu for special events and meetings at the hotel. He has now set his eyes on cakes and plans to further improve their dessert menus.

TAK will continue the evaluation at the FEMA Lodge in the coming week and will also conduct further pastry baking training at other hotels and lodges in South Tarawa.

Tourism Authority Participates in Coronavirus Emergency Response Simulation Exercise

February 13, 2020 by George Kumkee

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE 13Feb20:

Tourism Authority of Kiribati participated in the country’s first 2019-nCoV Novel Coronavirus emergency response simulation exercise hosted by the World Health Organisation (WHO) at the Ministry of Health’s Emergency Operation Centre in Nawerewere.

The exercise saw the converging of all relevant government and private sector stakeholders at the Operation Centre to firstly learn about nCoV and understand the potential threat it poses on the population if it were to ever reach Kiribati. The exercise also included the discussion of standard response procedures based on the different case scenarios.

Through WHO guidance, participants discussed in detail their responsibilities, responses and standard operating procedures to different levels of Coronavirus threat on Kiribati.

The exercise gave participants a better understanding of the important role of communication during such a national disaster and how each stakeholders role is important to helping prevent any potential outbreak on Coronavirus in Kiribati.

Another key outcome of the exercise was the agreement that national response to Coronavirus outbreak in Kiribati is to be centrally managed through the highest national emergency response body which is the Kiribati National Experts Group (KNEG).

Kiribati has placed control measures on all travellers from areas and territories in countries with ongoing local transmission of Novel Coronavirus. These travellers must spend at least 14 days in a country free of the 2019-nCoV. Travellers arriving earlier than the required 14-day-period may be deported to the country of travel origin depending on the health status of the individual.

Mandatory temperature checks for all incoming passengers have also been activated in all international ports of entry in Kiribati.

TAK Staff attends Tourism Fellowship, Hawaii 2019

January 24, 2020 by Taare Rikiai

The East-West Center’s Pacific Islands Development Program (PIDP), in cooperation with the Professional Fellows Division in the Office of Citizen Exchanges at the U.S. Department of State’s Bureau of Educational and Cultural Affairs, conducts the Pacific Islands Tourism Professional Fellows Program.

Each year this program brings two cohorts of tourism industry professionals from the Pacific Islands to Honolulu, Hawai‘i for intensive six-week programs that build significant new capacity and facilitate enduring professional bonds between industry leaders in the United States and the Pacific Islands.

This year, Senior Officer for Marketing Promotion and Communication in Tarawa Mrs Sarah Teetu Reymond was amongst the 17 tourism professionals from around the Pacific selected to be part of this fellowship program. She was one of the 2 participants selected from Kiribati to attend this fellowship training.

Each participant is required to implement a project based on their individual project plan that was submitted in Hawaii and Mrs. Reymond has chosen the area “Preserving Cultural and Natural Heritage through Destination Marketing, Branding and Sustainable Tourism Practices with an emphasis on small private and community tourism based related business empowerment” to implement as her home-based project.

Bakery Training for Tarawa Tourism Operators

January 14, 2020 by Taare Rikiai

The Tourism Authority of Kiribati (TAK) is undertaking bakery training for selected tourism operators on South Tarawa.

Conducted by Tourism Officer Ms Tikarerei Uriam, this complimentary training is part of TAK’s capacity building development program for hotels/accommodation kitchen staffs. Through this training, participants are encouraged and taught to support and enhance a variety of cakes and pastries to their customers.

Participants, through their employers, contribute to baking ingredients and other materials relevant to the training and training are conducted in their respective hotel. Accommodation providers participating in this training include the George Hotel, Fema Lodge, Utirerei Hotel and Dreamers.

The training began in December 2019 and it will be run until late January 2020. Each of these accommodations is scheduled to have three days of training with two baking recipes offered to them daily, thus a total recipe of six (6) baking recipes for each accommodation provider.

This training will conclude at the end of January 2020 and TAK looks forward to the improved patisserie experiences in South Tarawa.

TAK presents at Culture Workshop

September 23, 2019September 10, 2019 by Taare Rikiai

The Ministry of Internal Affairs through its Culture & Museum Division held its workshop with the Island Development Officers (IDOs) on Friday 15^th 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.

Tourism Authority Kiribati