A.12
PROJECT DURATION: 5-10 years
A.13
EXPECTED IMPLEMENTATION DATE: As soon as funds are available
B.1
PROJECT OBJECTIVES
The main objective of this project is to develop sustainable tourism in Kiribati in such a way that the government of Kiribati and people of Kiribati benefit from it over a long time. The intention is to increase income for the people and hence reduce poverty or hardship of the rural people and also generate adequate taxation income for the government. While the intention is to derive economic benefits from the project there are also aspects of developments that require careful consideration and this is the ‘environment’ and the ‘culture’ aspects. As will be seen in the project strategies and activities, environment and cultural dimensions will be fully considered, and implemented, where and whenever possible. The intention also is to encourage the private sector to take the lead in this sector leaving the government to take care of the policies and the infrastructures. B.2
PROJECT OUTPUTS
The first output of this project is the institutional strengthening of the tourism industry. This refers to having relevant tourism agencies, government or private, with adequate staff and capability to monitor and oversee tourism development. A legal framework or legislation is also expected in the initial stages of the project. Relevant committees or organizations will also be formed as part of the institutional arrangement. This will be followed by detailed studies and analyses and hopefully a comprehensive action plan for tourism development. If everything goes well as expected, then the next stage would involve building infrastructures and linking with international or overseas companies for transport and communication purposes. The infrastructures would include good roads, wharves, airports, terminals, hotels/motels, transport equipment, etc. The private sector is expected to produce goods and services for the tourism industry and all these are expected outputs from the project.
B.3
CONTEXT OF THE PROJECT
The project is initiated from two underlying beliefs: Kiribati has some unique scenery and products to offer to tourists; and Kiribati political climate is stable and conducive to foreign visitors. The geography of Kiribati is often described by this simple sentence: ”A country that is made up of small islands that are scattered over a very large ocean area”. It is most probable that the picture of ’people swimming in cool pristine waters or simply laying back under the clear sun on ‘pure white’ beaches’ would ‘pop-up’ in the minds of people reading this kind of description, especially people in the more developed countries who are always looking for remote, peaceful, and ‘romantic’ secluded spots to relax away their stress. And with the recent terrorist attacks and political turmoil in some known holiday destinations, more stable and peaceful countries like Kiribati do have the advantage now of attracting tourists and this is why it is about time Kiribati offer holiday sanctuary to peace loving tourists—tourists who simply want to enjoy the beach, the sun, the cool ocean waters, and spending their monies. In a way the isolation of Kiribati from many developed countries is an advantage in the sense that Kiribati truly offers the last ‘frontier’ of civilization to the rest of the world.
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