Mandate and Vision

Established in 1983 as the Tourism Council of the South Pacific, the Pacific Tourism Organisation (SPTO) is based in Suva, Fiji. SPTO has 20 Government members, they are American Samoa, Cook Islands, Federated States of Micronesia, Fiji, French Polynesia, Kiribati, Nauru, Marshall Islands, New Caledonia, Niue, Papua New Guinea, Rapa Nui, Samoa, Solomon Islands, Tim or Leste, Tonga, Tuvalu, Vanuatu, Wallis & Futuna and the People’s Republic of China. In addition to government members, SPTO has a private sector membership base of around 100 organisations.

The work of SPTO is guided by a new vision and mission for the future:

Our Vision

"Our Pacific Islands empowered by and benefiting from sustainable tourism"

Our Mission

“Sustainable tourism development through innovative partnerships”

2020–2024 Strategic Plan

The 2020-2024 Strategic Plan builds on the Pacific Tourism Strategy 2015-2019 which identified seven priority areas. SPTO will focus on three strategic priorities for this reporting period:

• Marketing the region
• Sustainable Tourism Planning and
• Development Development
• Research and Statistics

Four additional priorities will be addressed through innovative partnerships. These are: supporting and promoting investment and product development; improving air access and route development; developing and empowering our Pacific people’s capacity; and cruise and yachting sector development. Organisationally, lead responsibility for these innovative partnerships will be divided between the divisions.

The Strategic Plan requires the SPTO Executive Office to be working closely with staff and members to:

• Drive the overall management and implementation of the Plan;
• Oversee overall institutional support and funding;
• Commit to achieving targets for the three priority areas and innovative partnerships; and
• Implement a robust monitoring, evaluation and learning process to assess progress and to guide decision-making.

And commit to:

• Deliver quality and value-added service to Members by seeking funding for these priorities;
• Ensure that programmes are relevant and viable; and
• Collaborate with innovative and like-minded entities, development partners and regional stakeholders who share and support SPTO’s priorities.

The successful implementation of the Strategic Plan is possible through the cooperation and commitment of members and regional stakeholders. These include donors, development partners, other members of CROP (the Council of Regional Organisations in the Pacific), non-governmental organisations (NGOs), philanthropic organisations and the private sector.

Measuring Success

A monitoring, evaluation and learning framework and plan will be developed to accompany this strategic plan. Members will be advised of how SPTO is tracking against key performance indicators through annual monitoring, evaluation and learning reports.SPTO will work in partnership with members to improve the quarterly and annual progress reports that will contribute to a mid-term consultative review in 2022 and end of Plan review in 2024.