Tourism offers Papua New Guinea (PNG), Solomon Islands, Vanuatu, Fiji, Tonga, Samoa, Kiribati,

Palau, Marshall Islands (RMI), Federated States of Micronesia (FSM) and Tuvalu, hereafter referred to as
the PIC11, significant opportunities for economic growth and shared prosperity. These opportunities
derive from the comparative advantage of their resource endowments suited to tourism: pristine
natural environments and cultural diversity. While pristine natural environments are not the exclusive
domains of PIC11, competing island destinations in the Indian Ocean and the Caribbean also have them,
the PIC11’s unique and diverse cultural heritages are what differentiates them in the global market.
Further, tourism presents the chance to preserve the environment and cultural heritage through
sustainable development practices. Tourism represents a unique opportunity because it is less subject
to—and can actually benefit from—factors that are barriers to other forms of economic growth: small
and dispersed populations, small land areas, remoteness from markets, and limited natural resources
(UNWTO 2012).