IOT Tourism Review underway

The independent review of tourism in the Indian Ocean Territories (IOT) is progressing well with open consultations to take place on Christmas Island (CI) next week.

The Australian Government is working to identify opportunities for sustainable tourism growth on CI, and the Cocos (Keeling) Islands (CKI), with the review being conducted by Deloitte Australia on behalf of the Indian Ocean Territories Regional Development Organisation (IOTRDO), which I chair.

The independent review will result in the development of a tourism action plan which will assess tourism growth potential, advise on potential new tourism products and events, identify potential new tourist markets and best practice marketing and promotion strategies.

Earlier this month, consultants from Deloitte ran consultations on CKI, meeting with a wide range of tourism operators and stakeholders through workshops and meetings on both Home and West Islands. The CKI community came together to identify common objectives and opportunities for the future direction of tourism including what tourism offerings they would like to see, as well as new and innovative ideas.

Consultations will run on CI from 4-6 December. Deloitte will facilitate focus groups with tourism operators and hold a community workshop at the CI Recreation Centre on Thursday, 5 December 2019, between 4.30 p.m. and 6.00 p.m. One-on-one meetings will also be available upon request. To register your interest for any of these forums, please contact Sarah Crisci at Deloitte at sacrisci@deloitte.com.au.

I encourage everyone with ideas and enthusiasm about our beautiful IOT’s tourism potential to get involved in this process.

The tourism action plan will also explore the tourism initiatives identified through the Our Christmas Island 2030 Strategic Planand the Our Cocos (Keeling) Islands 2030 Strategic Plan.

Both strategic plans are supported by the Australian Government and highlight tourism opportunities associated with the islands" natural attributes including their flora and fauna, remoteness, and multicultural communities with business links to mainland Australia and Asia.

The Terms of Reference for the tourism review and development of the action plan are available at www.regional.gov.au/territories/publications/index.aspx

Mrs Natasha Griggs
Administrator of Christmas Island and the Cocos (Keeling) Islands