by The resort is located on the edge of one of the largest coral reefs in the world. Powered by solar energy, in an effort to reduce your carbon footprint, there are no air conditioners or swimming pools. Most of the food is grown in their gardens or caught in the sea, and all employees are hired in local villages. This is Nukubati, on the north coast of Fiji’s Vanua Levu island and at the forefront of a growing movement to change tourism in the Pacific.
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“Our goal is to really improve our environment rather than profit from it,” says Nukubati director Jenny Leewai Bourke. Nukubati is a member of Duavata, a collective of Fijian tourism businesses who say their industry should improve the environment and cultural heritage. But the question is complicated.
Pacific island countries, among the world’s most vulnerable to the climate crisis, are struggling to find ways to balance the environmental and cultural impact of tourism with economic needs. There is no regionally applicable agreement on sustainable practices, only a patchwork of guidelines and initiatives. Tourism, the backbone of many island economies, has begun to recover from the devastation caused by the Covid pandemic. The influx of visitors has sparked calls for change.
“We must demand a rebellion against the status quo,” says former Vanuatu tourism director Jerry Spooner of mass tourism. “It is imperative that we consider how our travel impacts Indigenous destinations and communities.”
New tourism models are emerging throughout the region. Vanuatu and the Cook Islands are promoting “regenerative” tourism, while French Polynesia is promoting a “slow” tourism model. Bora Bora, an island within French territory, has placed limits on arrivals to preserve its way of life. Palau, an archipelago in the western Pacific Ocean, asks visitors to sign a pledge to act in an ecologically responsible manner.
However, experts say a lack of monitoring to track impact, weak governance and limited resources are preventing Pacific tourism from making environmental progress. They call for soft measures (voluntary commitments or certification schemes) that are backed by legislation.
In a five-part series, The Guardian examines the challenge Pacific island nations face in balancing economic dependence on tourism with its environmental impact: where this has caused devastation, where new models are working, and how tourists can Make a Difference.
The regulation lacks force
Across the Pacific there is a network of laws, regulations and strategies that address sustainable tourism practices.
Many governments have sustainable tourism strategies and environmental legislation. The Pacific Tourism Organization (SPTO), the region’s leading industry group with 21 member countries, has developed a sustainable tourism framework and destination standards. They contain wide-ranging guidelines, from reducing plastic and energy use to protecting culture. There are also sustainability certification schemes at national and global levels.
But in practice most frameworks and guidelines are neither enforceable nor widely monitored. Joseph Cheer, professor of sustainable tourism and heritage at Western Sydney University in Australia, says the frameworks set “aspirational parameters” for the industry and compliance is voluntary.
“This is one of the biggest challenges in the Pacific,” says Cheer. “Whether a company decides to comply with them depends entirely on them. There is no compulsion or penalty if you do not follow them.”
While cautioning against generalizations about the region, Cheer says there is a lack of data collected on sustainability measures and a poor track record on governance in the Pacific.
The World Sustainable Tourism Council is a leading organization that sets standards and facilitates certification for destinations and businesses around the world: Singapore, Järvsö in Sweden and the Australian ski resort of Thredbo are among the places that have achieved GSTC certification . No destination in the Pacific has been certified, although some have adopted its standards.
One of them is Fiji, the most visited country in the Pacific with more than 636,000 arrivals in 2022. It adopted the GSTC standards as national guidelines this year. Fiji Tourism chief executive Brent Hill acknowledges they are being rolled out slowly and remain optional. The sector contributes almost 40% of Fiji’s GDP and the government is developing a national sustainable tourism framework, which will include similar participation standards.
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Vanuatu, where before the Covid pandemic tourism contributed approximately 36% of GDP, was one of the first Pacific nations to adopt an official sustainable tourism strategy. The country, along with the Cook Islands, offers optional green and sustainable tourism certifications for businesses. Vanuatu hopes to achieve GSTC certification and wants 60% of tourism businesses to be certified by local authorities by 2025.
Still, Stephen Pratt, head of the department of tourism, events and attractions at the University of Central Florida, says that across the Pacific there has been “very little regulation or self-regulation by the private sector” on sustainable tourism. This is largely due to a lack of government resources, the “tyranny of distance,” and the difficulty of monitoring remote locations.
New tourism models
As “green” standards and certification systems emerge, countries are trying to attract tourists by focusing on the environment and culture.
French Polynesia, a territory that includes Tahiti, markets its more than 100 islands as “slow tourism” destinations. Slow tourism advocates spending more time in one place, favoring transportation such as hiking or cycling. It also promotes cultural experiences, for example a visit to a taro plantation, where tourists are shown how to harvest and cook the edible root.
Other countries are exploring “regenerative” tourism, which requires visitors to leave a positive impact. They can help restore a coral reef, stay in locally run guesthouses, or eat locally grown food.
“More tourist dollars stay in the country and visitors have more authentic and meaningful experiences,” says Spooner, who now runs the Vanuatu nonprofit Regenerative Vanua.
He says agritourism – where agriculture is integrated with tourism experiences – turns traditional practices “into a story” and benefits communities.
“Visitors’ enthusiasm for the traditional food experience helps revive pride in local food systems and, in turn, discourages dependence on unhealthy imported foods, which is a major health problem in Pacific Island countries.” .
The Cook Islands’ five-year tourism strategy, launched in 2022, includes attracting “responsible” travelers by marketing regenerative experiences, as well as a focus on culture and traditions. Visitors are encouraged to eat local rather than imported food at restaurants and to support certified “mana tiaki” (guardianship) businesses. Mana tiaki is a free certification system for companies that meet sustainability and environmental care standards.
Elsewhere in the region, New Caledonia says sustainability is one of its core tourism values. Samoa’s tourism development plan includes the goal of becoming a more “resilient, inclusive and green” tourism destination.
Pratt says that while specialized tourism segments are important, “they will never receive the volume of tourists, at least as before Covid.”
But Dr Susanne Becken, professor of sustainable tourism at Griffith University, points out that while locally owned small businesses may attract fewer visitors than a mass tourism model, “that doesn’t necessarily mean the benefit to local people is minor”.
Becken says voluntary schemes, such as mana tiaki or the Palau pledge, are useful, but “ideally these soft measures would be complemented by legislation and standards, for example on phasing out single-use plastic, supported by through the Pacific Ocean Garbage Project.
A clearer picture of the impact of tourism would help guide policymaking. Becken says there is a lack of data on the carbon footprint and environmental cost of tourism in the Pacific, although the SPTO is working in this area.
Given its remote locations, reducing emissions from transportation (by air or sea) remains one of the Pacific nation’s biggest environmental challenges. Travel and tourism accounts for up to 11% of global greenhouse gas emissions, according to a 2021 World Travel and Tourism Council report.
SPTO Executive Director Christopher Cocker says that while the Pacific Islands’ contribution to global emissions is negligible, becoming a “green industry depends on the transformation of the transport sector”.
Tourists driving change
Despite growing interest in sustainability, prominent Samoan climate change activist Brianna Fruean says the region needs to “reshape” its relationship with tourism.
“Tourists are not just allowed to come to our Pacific islands and it’s free for everyone… we are the guardians of our islands, and when we have you as guests on our islands, you have to be guardians too, you have to Be a good guest.”
Richard Markham, a member of Fiji’s Duavata collective, agrees that visitors must take some responsibility for their impact. Markham says travelers who want an “eco-friendly vacation” should do their research.
“When they are not regulated, the responsibility falls on the consumer to identify products that are most sustainable,” he says, although he acknowledges that “the risk of greenwashing and lack of transparency can make this task difficult.”
Markham says tourists should try to “book with local businesses and operators who express their concerns through a real commitment to local communities and the environment”.
“Visitors can show that they really care and won’t be fooled by ‘greenwashing’, and that can encourage the industry to make substantial changes,” he says.
