Building An Inclusive And Sustainable Tourism Industry
Working in collaboration with the Department of Tourism (DoT) and the Vanuatu Tourism Office (VTO), the Vanuatu Skills Partnership supports tourism in Vanuatu through a range of skills development activities focusing on accessible quality product development, sustainable environmental business practices, market access, and recovery support during natural disasters.
With a focus on both national and provincial level engagement, the Skills for Tourism work stream supports key partners – including government, community, and private sector – along the industry value chain to ensure skills development promotes positive social and economic outcomes for rural tourism businesses and their communities.
Individual And Business Clients
Together with DoT and VTO, and through the expertise of training providers and coaches engaged by the provincial Skills Centres, we support professional development for local tourism businesses, including island bungalows and guesthouses, tours and activity operators. Support includes accredited training, targeted workshops and a range of customised business coaching activities across product improvement, business operations and marketing.
Vanuatu Tourism Operator Minimum Standards
The Partnership has supported DoT to develop and promote the Vanuatu Tourism Operator Minimum Standards, a national quality benchmark for tourism businesses.
Successfully implementing this process has resulted in a robust and genuine standard of accreditation for sustainable tourism businesses from product development to market access.
The Partnership is now supporting DoT in the auditing and implementation of these standards.
Provincial Marketing And Information Centres
The Partnership is working with VTO to establish provincial-based booking and information centres, under the governance of the VTO.
These aim to provide online and on-site marketing services to facilitate both domestic and international tourism. The Sanma Travel Information Centre is now operational and the Tafea and Malampa Centres are currently in development.
Cruise Tourism
The Partnership, in collaboration with the DoT and the Department of Industry, has supported improved access to income-generation opportunities through an agri-tourism approach. For example, through targeted skills development support, local farmers are able to package and sell vanilla beans on cruise ships in Mystery Island, Aneityum.
The Safe Business Operations training has been delivered on all Port of Calls to support preparations for the re-opening of cruise ships following the COVID-19 pandemic.
Local tourism operators are providing health and safety procedures, and increasing the quality and standard of local tours, restaurants, and spa and beauty services, available at Ports of Call including Luganville, Champagne Beach, and Mystery Island.
See video on our support to cruise tourism below.
