BY MIKE TUA
LOCAL woman entrepreneur and owner of Imperial Travel Service, Ender Rence has made fresh renewed calls on relevant authorities such as the Government’s Ministry of Tourism to seriously consider stronger support in the tourism sector in the country.
Speaking to Solomon Women, Ms. Rence said the Ministry of Tourism, and Solomon Islands Visitors Bureau the leading tourism bodies in the county needs to visit operators as there are big gaps between our tourism operators and policymakers.
“The gap that I’m talking about here is I’ve never seen anyone from the Ministry of Tourism or Solomon Islands Visitors Bureau (SIVB) who claim to be the leading the industry in the country visits and strengthen the connection with operators.
“They might do some visitation to operators but only to a few selected operators and that must be stopped.
It seems that no one is communicating with each other in this beautiful sector of tourism.
“This can cause miss understanding between operators and authorities. I don’t want to see this happen.
“There is no time to work or walk alone. The world has become more transparent and accountable.
“If we are to walk in isolation then this is not good for a small nation that we claim to be Christians.
“Since I started my small tourism business I was never been consulted, it was me who went and knock on the doors of relevant tourism authorities, or forced myself to attend the tourism meetings.
“It is me who seek assistance when I need help. It shouldn’t be like that.
“It supposes to be a two-way thing.
“I think it’s time we close this gap.
“Some operators may not need cash, they just need support with advice or just to check in on us and maybe to give us ideas and tips on how to run our business, what products are out there, and how do we work together to create new products, or link us to tourism connections.
“These things might look small but it’s very important to help the tourism industry contributes to our economy.
“Creating positive relationships is a very important step forward for the tourism industry in the Solomon Islands and that is what tourism is all about.
“First, all the players need to realize the huge communication gap.
“Therefore, I call on relevant stakeholders to do something and identify these gaps by organizing meetings to bring operators together and talk about each other’s challenges and achievements with the relevant authorities as one of the first steps to strengthen the communication, make visitation schedules to listen to operators on how they are doing with their business, I believe this will really boost the tourism sector,” she told Solomon Women.
Imperial Travel Service Solomon Islands is a locally owned land transport service that provides quality meet and greets services, transfers, and tours for all of our international and local customers in the country.
They work closely with small, locally-owned eco-tourism businesses as well as established hotels to ensure that they provide the best possible experience. Over the years, they have provided safe, convenient, and comfortable services to customers. Imperial Travel services aim to have innovative and cost-effective and efficient.
She said tourism is a good business in the sense that we try to look at things in a different way such as promoting the Solomon Islands, protecting our environment, taking into consideration Solomon Islands’ unique culture is kept and maintained, and looking after our beautiful country to attract tourists.
“After the training in Hawaii, I aim to research to find out the area in the tourism sector that needs strengthening to provide facts to support whatever complaints raised rather than just talking without knowing the facts behind these areas.
“I would like to thank those who helped me not only through money but as well as through encouragements and advises which brings me to where am now; still maintaining and moving forward,” she added.
Ender will be participating in this year’s Pacific Islands Tourism Professional Fellows Program in Hawaii.
The program aims to bring two cohorts of tourism industry professionals from the Pacific Islands to Honolulu, Hawaii for intensive six-week programs to build significant new capacity and facilitate enduring professional bonds between industry leaders in the United States and the Pacific Islands.
