08 April 2010

(PACNEWS) Riding on the wave of international publicity as an ‘icon of global warming’, Tuvalu is looking to develop a niche eco-tourism industry, says the country’s Tourism Officer Fakasoa Tealei.

But there’s a need to balance tourism development with environmental sustainability, he told ISLANDS BUSINESS.

“We have to be conscious of how we develop because we don’t want mass development for mass tourism. Tuvalu should be looking into a more sustainable development where we can maintain the resources we have for future generations.”

With this message in mind, the tiny Polynesian nation of just 11,000 hosted its inaugural King Tides Festival in late February in the country’s capital, Funafuti. The unusually high tides, which visit between February and March each year, are believed to have worsened with rising sea levels attributed to climate change, causing extensive flooding and widespread devastation on the low-lying atolls since 2006.

The festival’s aims were to raise awareness of the effects of climate change on Tuvalu and attract environmentally conscious travellers to visit the ‘icon of global warming’. Although no tourists attended this year’s festival, media crews from Fiji, New Zealand and France, as well as representatives from the United Nations and Greenpeace, covered the five-day event.

The festival put Tuvalu’s unique cultural identity on display through traditional food, craft, song and dance while an environmental awareness programme targeted the island’s young. Tealei hopes the publicity gained will encourage green travellers to visit Tuvalu in years to come. But he admits that tourism is still in its early stages.