Vanuatu Consultancy Project: A Cultural Tourism Report

This report, prepared as part of the Vanuatu Consultancy Project, examines the potential of cultural tourism in Vanuatu. It begins with an executive summary and table of contents, followed by an introduction to the tourism industry and its evolution. The report then explores Vanuatu's unique cultural assets, including village life, traditional ceremonies, and art and craft, proposing a new approach to tourism that leverages these elements. It analyzes successful examples of cultural tourism in Kenya, Madagascar, and Latvia, highlighting their successes and challenges. The report also discusses challenges specific to cultural tourism, such as integration, cooperation, and impact assessment, before concluding with recommendations for creative financing and sustainable development. The report emphasizes the importance of preserving cultural heritage while promoting tourism and generating revenue.

Running head: VANUATU CONSULTANCY PROJECT
VANUATU CONSULTANCY PROJECT
Name of the Student
Name of the University
Author Note

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Executive Summary
This report deals with Vanuatu tourism and the steps that the government with a support team
will take to identify and promote their culture to the tourists to provide unique, authentic and
informative experience to the tourists. This paper will critically analyze the initiatives taken
whether they will benefit the country to generate positive revenue or not.

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Table of Contents
Introduction......................................................................................................................................3
Discussion........................................................................................................................................3
Vanuatu tourism...........................................................................................................................3
New approach..............................................................................................................................4
Village life...............................................................................................................................4
Traditional ceremonies............................................................................................................4
Art and craft.............................................................................................................................5
Cultural tourism in other places...................................................................................................5
Successes.....................................................................................................................................7
Challenges....................................................................................................................................8
Integration................................................................................................................................8
Cooperation..............................................................................................................................8
Impact Assessment..................................................................................................................8
Interpretation/Presentation.......................................................................................................9
Creative Financing...................................................................................................................9
Conclusion.......................................................................................................................................9

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Introduction
The tourism industry is known for travel for business, relaxation and for recreational
purpose. The tourism is one of the most successful industries in the world and has seen an
exceptional growth. About 600 million people are travelling every year. In recent times the needs
of the tourists have changed a lot as people now just do not want to see the famous and fancy
places of other countries but want to explore different culture of the countries to gain experience
and educate themselves. This paper is a report that is going to talk about the steps that will be
taken to help the Vanuatu government to identify the cultural tourism of their country to provide
unique, authentic and informative experience for the tourists.
Discussion
Vanuatu tourism
Vanuatu is a nation in the South Pacific Ocean that is made up of about 80 islands.
Vanuatu is a place of rich heritage and culture. The history and the culture of Vanuatu are
ingrained in the population of the island making it one of the most culturally diverse nations in
the world. The nation follows a sustainable tourism policy where they want to provide a
memorable experience to the tourists by giving them an insight about the culture while
safeguarding and supporting the communities. The main tourist attractions of Vanuatu are the
island and the underwater world that provide water activities like Diving (Cheer, 2015).
However, tourists now want to explore the rich culture of this nation to get an insight of the real
world for experience.

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New approach
The diversity of the local culture is paving way for local tourism in the nation. The
government with a support team will be planning to make new initiatives and approach that may
help to provide the tourists an insight of the local culture that might be a new experience.
Village life
The life in this nation, Vanuatu is poles apart and different from the society that people
live in these days. The nation is diverse having four major cultural areas that are distinctive in
their celebrations, customs and ceremonies, several different languages spoken by the natives
and countless dialects. The villages here have complex rituals of tradition and kinship where re-
enactment of ancient battles, beautiful dances and sacredness towards their local lands
(Brondoni, 2016). This is what exactly attracts the tourists that help them to see a different and
unique culture that may educate and provide them an experience.
Traditional ceremonies
Traditional ceremonies are an important part of the life of the villagers. They organize
and conduct traditional ceremonies to celebrate many different things that are important to them
or have an emotional value. Toka is one of the most important and famous festivals in the nation
that occurs one in four years that the government of Vanuatu has already included in their
tourism activities to promote the culture of the nation. There are many other ceremonies like the
Naghol festival on the Pentecost Island which is a land diving festival that takes place on the
weekends through three months, April, May and June. In this festival the men jump from high
plummet and towers towards the land with a vine tied to their legs for their safety.

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Other renowned festival of this nation is the Toka festival where many natives of different tribe
groups celebrate by giving gift to each other, do colorful makeup and dance energetically
(Tabani, 2017). This lasts for three days and is a treat to the eyes.
Art and craft
The Vanuatu art and crafts are unique and have a traditional touch to the pieces. It shows the rich
culture of the indigenous people that many are not aware of. The people here use all the natural
materials to make knives, spears, bows, wooden dishes and carving that depict a more stylized
representation of fish, turtles, birds and human faces (Mcdonald, 2015). The way the people
make these beautiful handicrafts with natural materials shows their talent that the tourists need to
see and will be a new experience for them.
Apart from diving and exploring the islands there is a lot more to the nation, Vanuatu.
The diverse culture of this nation needs to be put in the forefront. Tourists these days’ travel to
gain experience and see the local culture. This will attract the tourists to come and visit the place.
Cultural tourism in other places
According to scholars’ cultural tourism has helped in attracting more tourists these days
as people now want to explore the real country rather than just the famous and fancy places. The
best way to do this is to explore the local culture of the country for experience. Kenya was once
famous for their wild life and highly promoted wild life for tourism. Kenya has been focusing on
their cultural aspects to promote tourism. The cultural tourism in Kenya primarily targets the
indigenous people and upholds their culture. Tourists want to explore the place and familiarize
themselves with the culture, the practices and the lifestyle. This has made Kenya offer tourists to
give an insight of the lives of the natives that still live the traditional way. Travelling through

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Kenya is to explore and experience a diverse and unique cultural mosaic (Chebotibin, Munyiri &
Bitok, 2018). Every place has a different culture and culture events in Kenya. There are many
pastoralists and cattle herders who are natives, who are known for their traditional dances and
songs. Kenya has about 42 cultures and countless dialects and languages. This shows the
diversity in their culture that attracts to the tourists these days who believe more in experiential
tourism. The history of Kenya is rich as three of the world heritage sites according to the
UNESCO are here. The cultural festivals of Kenya that are celebrated by both the indigenous and
the other people have attracted many tourists. The addition of the culture of Kenya in their
tourism has been beneficial for them as tourists want to experience the local culture and educate
themselves about the country. This has helped Kenya generate good revenue from their tourism
industry.
Another place rich of cultural heritage is the island of Madagascar. Like all other islands,
the Republic of Madagascar has its own array of conditions and it is transparent that life here has
emerged in a different way, both in terms of biology and culture, as more than 90% of its wildlife
cannot be found anywhere in the world. It’s not anything amazed that the island broke away
from Africa about 156 million years ago and from India 100 million years later, which lead to the
unique range of flora and fauna of the nation. The rainforests are separated from deserts by only
a few hundred kilometers and 5,000 kilometers of coastline balance the clean beaches with
harmful waters. Madagascar is considered as a cultural softening pot, with travelers from areas
adjoining to the Indian Ocean has a contribution in the customs, assumptions and rituals of the
country. Madagascar is a dream destination for the admirers of cultural tourism. Madagascar’s
national animal is the ring-tailed lemur, an odd primate creature found nowhere else in the world,
another attraction of the tourists from all over the world.

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Another region can be taken here for example, the country of Latvia. Latvia is hugely
different with Germany, Sweden, Poland and Russia having all had their chances to command
this Baltic state, though the region is less than 65,000 square kilometers in size. It’s probability
in the architecture, which includes impressive, Russian-styled homes in the west, ordinary
farmhouses in the east, Soviet-style apartment blocks in the countryside and structures from the
8th century still standing in the capital city of Riga. Latvians are different in assumptions and
lifestyles, with older generations learnt Russian in school and the younger ones taught English as
well as Latvian and grasping the latest attack of Western improvements. Latvians are united
mostly during the time of solstice celebrations surrounding Jāņi and Līgo, and also in the
celebration of the harvest, which can be termed as a time for going back to the country to eat,
wear flower crowns and celebrate around a bonfire till the sunrise. This indigenous cultural
heritage attracts the tourists from around the world (Jamal & Dredge, 2014)
Successes
The success or the benefits of cultural heritage tourism can go miles after miles. In terms
of the communities, it can enhance or bolster the local economy, help to promote the protection
of the resources, to increase the payment or the expenditures of the visitors who are visiting
Kenya, Madagascar and Latvia, the three rich culturally filled tourist regions, generating the
employment of the local people as guides or other professions related to tourism, to increase the
pride and honor and awareness of the resources of the community, to preserve the uniqueness
character of the community, to increase the tax receipts, and to excite or provoke the growth of
the economy (Hoppen, Brown & Fyall, 2014) All this may help the resources of the cultural
heritage themselves by improving the revenue generation in appropriate and viable ways. It also
helps to secure the cultural heritage resources through a stronger base of cooperation, promoting

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or supporting the fame and recognition of the financial contribution of the resources of the
cultural heritage on a social and regional level, and bolstering the preservation, care, and
presentation of the resources overall. Finally, cultural heritage tourism encourages the protection
on the state level and the use of cultural heritage resources on continuous basis, which is
important to the quality of financial well-being and quality of life, which helps to strengthen the
cultural heritage resources as well as the tourism industry (Cheer, 2015).
Challenges
Continuous or tenable cultural tourism development have to face many challenges.
Overcoming these challenges is a major task of the action makers as well as the communities if
they are to achieve inclusive and continuous heritage tourism improvement. They are (Budeanu
et al, 2016):
Integration
The attraction of the societies regarding the historical and cultural tourism should ensure
that cultural heritage tourism plans are unified with the broader procedures of planning as well as
policymaking.
Cooperation
All attractions within the tourism planning procedure, especially those at the society
level, should learn to work together in an appreciative manner. Tenable improvement requires
that all those who are worried to learn to deal with the disagreements and to investigate the
creative use of partnerships as a method of sharing knowledge and risks, in tourism
improvement.
Impact Assessment
If societies are to expand the procedures and policies that will meet their demands and
respect their tangible as well as intangible heritage they must begin to calculate the potential

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effects of new tourism improvements. In the impact procedure, the use of indicators is important
if societies are to be in a position to evaluate how well the plans are meeting their goals. While it
is often hard to find resources to carry out this activity, it is important for the society to know
how good it is doing in its attempts to preserve the cultural heritage as well as develop the
quality of life for all of its dwellers.
Interpretation/Presentation
If the society is to be in a position to describe its culture and tell the story to its own
dwellers as well as tourists, there must be a creative use of different interpretive and presentation
methods. These methods can range from tourist centers, reproduction, understanding of the first
person, audio visual shows, mutual computer programs, signage and different forms of print
media.
Creative Financing
Given the deficiency of funding by the government in much of Asia and reducing
resources from international improvement agencies, it is essential that societies to begin to look
at different forms of creative financing.
Conclusion
Planning and administering the cultural heritage tourism needs a number of issues to be
dealt with. For those involved in maintenance of cultural heritage, the challenge is to
comprehend and work efficiently with the tourism industry. For those who are in the tourism
industry, there is a demand to accept the needs of host societies as well as the standards and
concerns that are part of conserving the cultural heritage. Badly maintained cultural heritage
destinations will not only negatively affect local societies but also the tourism sector when
heritage resources and values are disgraced. The challenge is to perform together in achieving

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continuous planning and management by the shareholders, rather than avoiding or stopping the
tourism as a whole.

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