The World Health Organisation says its new collaboration with the South Pacific Tourism Organisation will promote smoke-free public places, increase opportunities for people to eat healthy local foods and exercise.
WHO Technical Officer Ada Moadsiri told Jenny Meyer the so called 'Healthy Islands' project is aimed at improving the health of both the tourism workers and tourists to the region.
WHO Technical Officer, Ada Moadsiri
Photo: University of Illinois
Transcript
ADA MOADSIRI: In fact it will involve helping to make our tourism workforce healthier as well as provide opportunity for our tourists. I know there's a growing demand for healthy options when it comes to visits to other countries especially in the Pacific and so we want to support those efforts.
JENNY MEYER: How will it work in practice? What are you going to implement specifically?
AM: So actually to begin with WHO is hosting a workshop on tobacco free tourism in March and SPTO is going to be involved as well. And we're going to start working with our country counterparts on identifying ways of integrating smoke free public places into tourism efforts and ensure that those domestic laws are enforced in order to promote this bit of health promotion. And moving forward we'll continue to work together to work with the different sectors of government to promote and raise awareness about aspects of healthy tourism such as increasing accessibility for persons with disabilities both visitors and the workforce.
JM: So it will help the infrastructure around some of those popular tourists spots as well, is that what you mean?
AM: Yeah we hope to advise and advocate to both governments and private sector about how they might be able to integrate and be aware of accessibility issues related to whether it's a hotel or their restaurant or their museum or whatever tourism site it may be, what they can possibly do to increase accessibility for persons with disabilities.
JM: And I see that as well as that you're looking at promoting healthy local food choices, does that mean you're trying to look at alternatives rather than just say for example fast food outlets, that kind of thing?
AM: You know we're very fortunate in many of the Pacific Islands to have fresh local produce and other healthy foods and so we want to work with the South Pacific Tourism Organisation to promote using healthy local foods in the restaurants across the Pacific and really show casing the wonderful cuisine we have here in the Pacific to tourists and feature the talents of our local chefs using local foods and that tasty food can also be healthy, yeah.
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