Fiji Sun, April 20 – The South Pacific Tourism Organisation board of directors recently reappoints Deputy Chairperson.
Mr Dixon Seeto of FHTA was nominated on Board of Directors of SPTO in the Annual Meeting held in Port Vila last year.
The Deputy Chairperson is elected every year. SPTO chief executive officer, Christopher Cocker said that the Board of Directors welcomed the reappointment of Ms Adele Issachar and her wealth of experience in the tourism industry.
The directors also approved the proposed Sustainable Tourism Partnership with UN Environment; and agreed to provide the Secretariat with their top five national sustainable tourism priorities to inform the development of the project portfolio proposed under the partnership.
“In line with SPTO’s advocacy for sustainable tourism we are looking to assist our member countries with the implementation of their top five national sustainable tourism priorities which we hope to accommodate under this partnership,” added Mr Cocker.
The Directors also noted the presentation from Fiji on the preparations for the 30th Joint Meeting of the UNWTO Commission for East-Asia and the Pacific (CAP) and the UNWTO Commission for South Asia (CSA) that will be held in Fiji on June 18-20, 2018.
Board members
Meanwhile, five private sector representatives have been appointed to sit on SPTO’s Board.
The Fiji Hotel and Tourism Association president Dixon Seeto was amongst those nominated and approved by the Board and the Council of Ministers at the annual meeting in Port Vila last year.
SPTO is composed of 18 Government Members and more than 140 private sector members who were consulted in the process of identifying the best representatives for the Board.
SPTO is composed of 18 Government Members and more than 140 private sector members who were consulted in the process of identifying the best representatives for the Board.
In a statement SPTO said it recognised that their presence will enable tourism private sector to speak in one voice nationally and regionally.
The new members of the Board are prominent leaders with extensive experience in the Pacific’s tourism industry and are as follows:
Air Niugini Chief Executive Officer Simon Foo who has spent 45 years working in the airline industry and brings a wealth of experience to the role.
He is currently overseeing an exciting time of growth and transformation in the company. In 2015, Mr Foo was appointed Chairman of the Association of South Pacific Airlines (ASPA), a position which he continues to hold today.
Managing Director of Turama Pacific Tours in the Cook Islands, Robert Skews is a current and the longest serving Director of Cook Islands Tourism Corporation with a current term of 14 years. Prior to his appointment at Turama Pacific Tours in 1982, he held various positions in Air New Zealand from 1969.
Tahiti Tours General Manager Diana Chinchoi is also now the new Group General Manager for the Tahiti Nui Travel Group. She has over 27 years of experience specialising in and selling Tahiti as a destination.
Ali Serhan has over 14 years work experience, of which ten plus years he was employed in Senior Executive/ General Management roles.
He has a wealth of international hotel management experience, with a career spanning international destinations such as Vanuatu, Fiji, Jordan and Lebanon.
The Board of Directors’ meeting was also attended by three of its five new Tourism Industry Members who brought much-needed private sector insight and input to the meeting. They are Mr Skews; Ms Chinchoi and Mr Foo.
