Monday, July 8, 2024 The Pacific Tourism Organisation (SPTO), alongside the Vanuatu Tourism Office (VTO), hosted a significant capacity-building workshop in Port Vila from July 1 to July 5. This event, part of the ongoing SPTO in-country visits, centered around the Pacific Tourism Data Initiative and the Digital Measurement and Benchmarking Dashboard, both integral components of the Pacific Digital Transformation Project. Vanuatu, along with other nations such as Niue, the Cook Islands, Samoa, the Solomon Islands, Papua New Guinea, Tonga, Kiribati, Timor Leste, and FSM-Yap, is involved in the PTDI project.

This initiative seeks to gather and analyze tourism data critical for setting benchmarks in marketing and sustainable tourism across the Pacific. The sessions took place at the Grand Hotel in Port Vila, drawing fifteen delegates from various Vanuatuan agencies including the Tourism Office, Department of Tourism, Bureau of Statistics, Department of Immigration, and the Ministry of Trade and Commerce. The main objective was to enhance the capabilities in digital data management and analytics within the tourism industry, aiming to equip participants with skills to drive meaningful research outcomes for Vanuatu.

Warren Gama, the Business Intelligence Manager at the Vanuatu Tourism Office, underscored the urgency of proactive and high-quality research and data analysis to provide vital insights to both the government and stakeholders regarding the tourism sector’s economic and.