The Finance Minister of Vanuatu, Mr. John Salong, inaugurated the two-day GSTC training on Sustainable Tourism, on the 7th of August 2023 in Port Vila, Vanuatu.
From left to right: Jerry Spooner, Regenerative Vanua’s Executive Director, Vanuatu’s Finance Minister Mr. John Salong and GSTC’s Vice Chair CB Ramkumar.
The training was organized by the Vanuatu Bureau of Standards and it reflects the commitment that the country is showing for its journey towards sustainable tourism. Participants included officers from the Department of Tourism, Vanuatu Bureau of Standards, hotels & resorts, and other stakeholders.
The course trainer was Mr. CB Ramkumar, Vice-chair, GSTC, who shared his inestimable knowledge and expertise with practical examples and valuable insights.
“This is something to be proud of as we position Vanuatu as a leader in sustainable tourism. […] We are Vanuatu and we need to think about tourism that will bring our people along. Our livelihood is based on bringing together the strength of the economy based on what we have done thus far, and we know that tourism is the catalyst for income generation in this Vanuatu of ours. […]
I am very thankful that I have had this opportunity to come and see you all, prepare to do lots of work in beginning the process of setting up Vanuatu to provide leadership. And Vanuatu can do it. If we were able to bring all in the UN general assembly together to resolve that we work on climate justice, yours is the opportunity to begin to set Vanuatu as the leader in global sustainable tourism development.
All the best in all your deliberations, and you have my support.” said the Finance Minister of Vanuatu, Mr. John Salong when he inaugurated the training.
“All training programs are as effective as the participation, discussions and debates it generates. I must say that this was in abundance during this training and this contributed immensely to the learning process. It also reflected the passion that the participants had for the future of the sustainable tourism journey for Vanuatu.” said Mr. CB Ramkumar, Vice Chair of GSTC.
