(TAN): China has declared Kiribati, a country in the central Pacific Ocean, a tourism destination for Chinese travellers, reports said.
The announcement came after Kiribati President Taneti Maamau’s visit to Beijing, as per reports. Kiribati reportedly joined other Pacific Island nations in signing up to China’s global development strategy, named the ‘Belt and Road Initiative’.
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According to reports, the arrangement between the governments of China and Kiribati to allow Chinese tourists to visit Kiribati in a tour group has been dubbed the Approved Destination Status. It gives the Tourism Authority of Kiribati the authorisation to promote itself as a holiday destination in China, and acts as an opportunity to expand its tourism sector, reports said.
The head of the Tourism Authority of Kiribati (TAK), Petero Manufolau, reportedly said the Chinese tourist market could bolster revenue growth and create new employment opportunities in Kiribati if sufficient tourism infrastructure development was in place, even if it was a small country.
“…growth from China market will be based on a sustainable low volume, high value holiday experience promoting the unique cultures, diverse marine life, the laid-back lifestyle in the islands and its people,” he was quoted by Marianas Variety as saying.
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Manufolau noted Air Kiribati’s new Embraer E190 jets that are set to start international services from March will contribute towards the growth of its Chinese visitor market, as per reports. However, while dealing with the Chinese market, the real task reportedly was in being accurate about what sort of tourism it could work with – while China has a massive number of outbound travellers, Kiribati offered a small market.
“We are a unique small niche-market driven destination and for a market like China we won’t be going for the masses. So, what we are looking at is an opportunity to identify the type of market that we think will be sustainable for us in the long-term out of China, and once we have identified that we can then develop products here on the ground to sort of cater to the very niche driven market,” RNZ quoted him as saying.
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