Regional Actions

The topic of the upcoming thematic workshop will be "Integrated Management and Sustainable Tourism", and it will take place from 23 to 27 February in Papeete, French Polynesia.

Overall the workshop's objectives will be to allow participants to share their knowledge and know-how with each other, for specialists to respond to the participating stakeholders' questions and, in the end, to offer some guidelines for decision-makers. They will first be used as part of the development of a tourism sector policy for French Polynesia, which is supposed to be finalised in March 2015.
The concept of sustainable tourism will be examined in detail and the various aspects of tourism in the Pacific will be explored in that light. Using case studies, the four main topics below will be explored:

• Developing tourism on an island from scratch by taking into consideration its specific environmental, social and economic features: how to showcase a country or region by ensuring harmonious development, positive benefits for the community and sustainable projects,
• Managing large numbers of cruise-ship passengers: how to both profit from these large influxes, which are a source of foreign exchange, while preserving the quality of the sites
• Taking into consideration and promoting history and culture: how to not only preserve them but also make them into assets OR The advantages of creating labels: what types of labels? How to get them? For what purposes?
• Large-scale project design and management: how to host large numbers of visitors while respecting the three pillars of sustainable development

The work will be organised around case studies of experiences in each of INTEGRE's participating OCTs. Examples will be sought in the OCTs and other countries in the region and specialists will be invited to share their views.
So, we expect 50 to 70 people to attend this workshop (by invitation only):

• Local stakeholders from each of the four OCTs and also from other countries in region, who will come to share their experience (such as Hawaii or Fiji): GIE Tahiti tourisme, GIE Bora-Bora activités;
• National or international groups such as, in particular, the South Pacific Tourism organisation (SPTO), UNESCO, Earth-Check Asia-Pacific;
• Specialists who have worked in the area and can share their views or who have supported experiences that they can then share: Lincoln University (NZ), Archipelagos (French Polynesia), National Parks of France, etc.

At the end of the workshop, a summary of the work will give the discussions the concrete form of a working guide for managers and decision-makers.

A first annoucement, including a provisionnal agenda, can be downloaded here (on demand at this stage), waiting for the complete preparation document, currently in preparation.