Tourism Master Plan Implementation Assistance Programme (TMPIAP)

The TMPIAP was designed to help promote sustainable tourism development in the Cook Islands by assisting with the implementation of the 1991 national Tourism Master Plan.  It involved inputs from both the Cook Islands and New Zealand governments, the tourism industry, village communities, and individuals.  The New Zealand contribution of $3.3 million to the programme was funded through New Zealand Official Development Assistance. 

The Programme ran between March 1994 and June 1998.  In that time it undertook over 70 projects.  These included planning, development of amenities, tourism business development, setting up a quality assurance scheme, solid waste management, publications, market research, curriculum development, environmental studies, and support for marketing.  The Programme was administered through a Joint Management Group of Cook Islands and New Zealand government representatives and a specially appointed reference group drawn from a range of stakeholders in the tourism industry.    Peter Phillips managed the programme on behalf of NZODA.   More>> 

Cook Islands Tourism 2005-2015: A Geotourism Strategy

In August 2006 the Hon. Wilkie Rasmussen, the Minister of Tourism for the Cook Islands signed the National Geographic’s Geotourism Charter making the country the first in the Pacific and the fourth in the world to sign.  This marked a major step forward in the reorientation of tourism in the Cook Islands based on a new national strategy prepared by Peter Phillips.  For many years the Cook Islands has been drifting further into the “rest and recreation” style of destination which ultimately is unsustainable.

Signing the Charter was part of the strategy’s aim to promote tourism that sustains and enhances the well-being of resident Cook Islanders and their environment, society, economy and culture (a reframing of the National Geographic’s definition of geotourism). As such the strategy built on the intent of former Tourism Minister George Ellis and former Prime Minister Geoffrey Henry who both advocated a triple bottom line approach to tourism development. More>>