Tourism Solomons welcomes new ministerial appointment

Honiara, Solomon Islands – Tourism Solomons has congratulated the Hon. Choylin Yim-Douglas following her appointment as the Solomon Islands new Minister for Culture & Tourism (MCT).

Inducted last week by newly-elected Solomon Islands Prime Minister, the Hon. Jeremiah Manele, Ms Yim-Douglas becomes the first woman to manage the portfolio.

She is also the first woman to win her seat as Member of Parliament for the Ngella Constituency in Central Province following the Solomon Islands recent general election.

Welcoming Ms Yim-Douglas to the role, Deputy Chair of the Tourism Solomons Board, Mr Antonio Lee said he and his team were looking forward to working constructively with the minister as part of the national tourist office’s agenda.

A key focus of this, he said, aims to see the tourism sector become one of the Solomon Islands’ prime sources of foreign exchange earnings by 2030.

”Our ongoing strategy is fixed on supporting the right people, tapping into new markets and creating the right environment for tourist travel to the Solomon Islands. We also remain very focused on the benefits the people of the Solomon islands can accrue from tourism,” Mr Lee said.

“This is especially the case from the perspective of employment, increased services and most importantly, increased infrastructure and beds to sell, all of which are vital if we are to achieve our objectives.”

Paying tribute to outgoing MCT Minister, the Hon, Bartholomew Parapolo, Mr Lee said under his management of the portfolio, the Minister have overseen a period of great success for the sector.

“During his time at the helm, the Solomon Islands international visitors numbers grew annually between seven to 10 percent  to reach just under 30,000 in 2019 before the destination was forced to close its border during the COVID-19 pandemic,” he said.

“While we are still in recovery mode, our visitation is slowly returning to pre-COVID numbers, this off the back of an ongoing integrated approach in tandem with  strong marketing activity in all key source markets which we look to continue under the guidance of our new tourism minister.”

Pictured, Minister for Culture and Tourism, the Hon. Ms Choylin Yim-Douglas congratulated by His Excellency the Governor General Sir David Vunagi at the mnister’s official swearing-in ceremony.