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Capacity Building

Tourism Authority Participates in Coronavirus Emergency Response Simulation Exercise

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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

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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

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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

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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 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.

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.