Tonga heritage arts featured at CSM 2015 ^Featured

“Our culture is truly unique and rich and people are awed by our heritage arts so we were delighted to have brought the ngatu all the way from Tonga,” says Monalisa Palu, National Coordinator of the Tonga Handicrafts and Cultural Tourism Support Programme.

“We decided to hang it up on our wall in the combined South Pacific Cruise Alliance booth featuring 8 Pacific islands including Tonga. It gave us a point of differentiation from our neighbouring countries and immediately drew the attention of visitors,” added Monalisa.

The ngatu was featured in Cruise Shipping Miami’s newsletter the next day highlighting Tonga’s booth.

At the Presidents of the Member Cruise Lines Welcome Reception hosted by Tahiti, Chairman of Tonga’s Cruiseship Steering Committee Steve Edwards was able to present the ngatu as a gift to Tahiti’s Minister of Tourism.

“Again, Tonga was promoted here because we laid out the full ngatu and the process and story was explained which made it even more fascinating for the audience and in this highly competitive cruise industry with so many ports and destinations, it is important to be authentic and unique,” added Monalisa.

A valuable outcome from this conference was the sharing of Tonga’s biosecurity requirements and quality assurance manual on handicrafts developed by the Tonga Handicrafts and Cultural Tourism Support Programme which was reviewed and approved by Australia’s Department of Agriculture, Fisheries and Forestry, New Zealand’s Ministry of Primary Industries and Tonga’s Ministry of Agriculture & Food, Forests and Fisheries.

“We realised that passengers were given outdated information which discouraged them from buying handicrafts so no matter how great our products were and how much marketing was happening, some of them were advised on the ship NOT to buy and so we worked towards reducing the impediments and providing the correct information thanks to Tonga’s MAFFF, Australia and NZ,” explained Monalisa.

The manual is a result of over a year of dedicated work by key authorities and resultant trainings.

“Last year we met with managers in Miami and realised the issue and since this is where the decision makers come to, we had to ensure we could furnish the right information so last year we made sure we got this manual done and more importantly, reviewed by the authorities and this year for the first time, we were able to share this so that they could then pass on the correct information to their ships visiting our shores,” stated Monalisa.

The Cruise Shipping Miami (Seatrade) is an industry conference addressing every aspect of cruise shipping.

“Tonga faces so many challenges because of our remoteness but our efforts are impressive and we must never give up.”

The Tonga Handicrafts and Cultural Tourism Support Programme aims to Enhance the Sustainable Livelihood Opportunities for Handicrafts and Cultural Tourism Experience providers.

ENDS

For more information please contact:
 
Monalisa Palu
National Coordinator
E: This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it.                                                                       
Ph: +676 8876511