News

PSDI and the Pacific Tourism Organization last week hosted the inaugural Pacific Talanoa for Women in Tourism in Suva, Fiji.

The Talanoa was designed to provide a platform for regional tourism leaders to share, plan, and coordinate gender mainstreaming efforts, and for PSDI to share the findings of its recent gender audit, undertaken with ten SPTO member organizations, including the SPTO. The audit assessed how each organization is incorporating gender considerations in its policies and programs.

“We see the Talanoa event as an important part of the process in addressing gender inequities in the tourism sector in the Pacific,” said Mr. Christopher Cocker, Chief Executive Officer of SPTO. “For SPTO, we want the insights from this event, plus the findings of the PSDI gender audits to inform our thinking and planning going into the series of meetings around the Sustainable Tourism Summit to be held in Tonga next year.”

The event featured a high-level dialogue and panel, with speakers from the Cook Islands Tourism Corporation, the Federated States of Micronesia Tourism Division, New Zealand Māori Tourism, the Pacific Community, the Samoa Tourism Authority Board, Tourism Fiji, and the Vanuatu Tourism Office.

This was followed by a presentation and discussion of PSDI’s preliminary regional gender audit findings and strategies for increasing women’s leadership and fostering more inclusive tourism sectors.

“During the gender audit process, our conversations with participating tourism offices uncovered a host of ideas, examples, and opportunities for incorporating gender equality into tourism policies, legislation, process, and resources in a meaningful way,” said Ms. Sarah Boxall, PSDI’s Economic Empowerment of Women Specialist. “The Talanoa is an important forum for sharing those findings and the actionable next steps that can help drive transformation in the sector.”

During the Talanoa, tourism leaders discussed the role of women in the Pacific tourism sector, regional gender equality frameworks, focusing on the opportunities, challenges, and pathways for collaboration. Participants explored both regional and national initiatives, the role of data and evidence in deciding priorities for support, as well as experiences from women as tourism leaders in both private and public sector. 

Participants identified policies and strategies, leaders’ commitments, institutional commitments, and goals and targets as key methods for national tourism offices to put gender mainstreaming into practice.

PSDI Economic Empowerment of Women Analyst, Atenasi Ata, and Sustainable Tourism Analyst, Alcinda Trawen, present at the Talonoa.

Representatives from PSDI and Pacific national tourism organizations speak at the Talanoa.