Christina Leala-Gale of Samoa has today been appointed manager of Sustainable Tourism Development for South Pacific Tourism Organisation (SPTO).
Ms Leala‐Gale will be responsible for strengthening SPTO's work in the area of sustainable tourism development.
SPTO chief executive officer Chris Cocker, in welcoming her to the organisation, said: "Christina joins SPTO with a wealth of experience in various areas such as sustainable development, tourism planning, project management and climate change to name a few."
He said Ms Leala‐Gale was bringing more than 14 years of experience to the position.
“2017 is an important year for the Pacific and the entire global community and Christina has joined us at an opportune time to contribute to national, regional and global initiatives like the International Year of Sustainable Tourism Development. She will work closely with other regional agencies and development partners on a range of environmental issues including energy efficiency and reduction, climate change and disaster risk management and their links to sustainable tourism,” he added.
Ms Leala‐Gale joins SPTO from the Secretariat of the Pacific Regional Environment Programme (SPREP) in Apia where she managed a regional project on reducing the vulnerability of community livelihoods to the impacts of climate change through improved national meteorological services in 14 Pacific Island countries.