BY MAVIS NISHIMURA PODOKOLO
SOLOMON Islands economy can be improved through tourism activities in the country, it is reported.
This is according to the Ministry of Environment, Climate Change and Disaster Management (MECDM) and Marine and Coastal Biodiversity Management in Pacific Islands Country (MACBIO) latest economic report.
The economic report stated that Solomon Islands has a small tourism industry but is now expanding.
It furthers that tourism expenditures from foreign visitors amount to about SBD$514 million per year (US $ 68 million).
“This indicates that varieties of businesses and their employees in providing government tax revenue have benefited from this particular industry,” stated the report.
It further spells out that if this industry is managed responsibly it (tourism) can be a beneficial and sustainable ecosystem service.
This is because tourist generally seeks out healthy ecosystems in which tourism can create a motivation to protect and even rehabilitate marine ecosystem.
Besides the report said that if tourism is more developed and profitable there would be a higher motivation for locally and the national government of Solomon Islands to stop unwanted activities like illegal logging and some other destructive activities like mining and inshore fishing.
