Alert to a few unhappy alternatives scattered across the Pacific, the Cook Islands wants tourism to fit its culture, not the reverse. In creating the Cook Islands Destination Stewardship Plan, the country chose a strikingly suitable strategy. Dr. David Ermen, lead consultant, explains the process, with contributions by the Cook Islands destination stewardship team.
Stitching Culture into Stewardship: The Cook Islands Shapes Tourism to Suit Itself
The Cook Islands is growing tourism on its own terms. With just over 17,000 residents welcoming 187,018 visitors in 2025, and tourism the dominant force in the economy, the country is asking a deliberate question: What kind of growth serves its people, its culture, and its future?
Part of the answer is structural. The visitor economy is overwhelmingly islander-owned. Family-run accommodation, boutique properties, and local operators make up most of the sector, keeping visitor’s dollars circulating in the domestic economy and the visitor experience personal. That ownership pattern is what makes the national vision achievable. “Our overarching aspiration is that tourism benefits our people above all else,” Karla Eggelton, CEO of the Cook Islands Tourism Corporation, told the Los Angeles Times in July.
The other part of the answer is a plan for keeping it that way.
A hand-stitched treasure as a theory of change
The Cook Islands Destination Stewardship Plan 2026–2030, adopted by the Cook Islands Cabinet in December 2025 and launched in 2026, organises stewardship around four dimensions: Culture, Economy, Environment, and Community, supported through enabling systems. Its real signature is how those dimensions are held together and coordinated. The plan draws on the concept of the Tivaevae (or Tivaivai), the hand-stitched quilt that is among the most treasured gifts a Cook Islands family can give. The Tivaevae is a metaphor for communicating the joint efforts required across the islands to drive positive change through tourism. It is a cherished tradition of unity, anchored in collaboration, enriched through the sharing of knowledge, and expressed with care and patience. Each quilt tells a story of the Cook Islands people, their land, and their values.
The Cook Islands Destination Stewardship Plan was inspired by the same spirit. Just as a Tivaevae is created collectively, with many hands contributing to one shared design, destination stewardship relies on everyone working together towards a common vision.
Our planning team learned the power of the Tivaevae approach in consultation rooms across Rarotonga, Aitutaki, and Atiu. Intervention logic and outcome frameworks give a plan its rigour, whereas communities talk about their future through stories and shared symbols. The moment we began explaining the plan through the Tivaevae, a very technical document became approachable. Stakeholders and the public could see themselves in it, because everyone already understood how a quilt is made.
A plan stitched together in the best possible way
The four dimensions of the Destination Stewardship Plan are reflected in the Tivaevae design:
- Culture (Red Hibiscus): traditions, identity, and heritage
- Economy (Yellow Tipani): business, livelihoods, and opportunity
- Environment (Green Breadfruit and Leaves): protection of the land and ocean
- Community (Blue Tiki-Tiki Tangata): the border and background on which the whole design is stitched, through unity, relationships, and shared responsibility
At the centre sits the Tiare Māori, the national flower, representing the people of the Cook Islands, who anchor all four.
“Like a Tivaevae, each part of our destination is unique – our economy, our community, our culture, and our environment. No single part stands alone, but when stitched together, they create something beautiful, strong and resilient. At the heart are our people – connecting and sustaining everything we do. We all have a role to play in protecting our islands for those who come after us. Our Paradise, Our Promise.” —Lisa Sadaraka, Project Management Unit Lead
Where the GSTC comes in
The stewardship process is built on a strong technical foundation. The GSTC Cook Islands Destination Assessment, completed in 2025, provided baseline benchmarking against the GSTC Destination Criteria and identified the specific areas requiring intervention. Those findings directly informed the plan’s design. Each of the four dimensions is mapped to the Standard. The culture dimension, for instance, aligns to Section C on cultural sustainability, with emphasis on C2 (cultural artifacts), C3 (intangible heritage), and C5 (intellectual property), alongside the UN Sustainable Development Goals, and the Cook Islands’ National Sustainable Development Agenda.
Regional alignment reinforces this architecture. The Cook Islands’ commitment to the Pacific Sustainable Tourism Policy Framework and the Pacific Sustainable Tourism Standards, developed by the Pacific Tourism Organisation – themselves aligned with the GSTC standards – gives the plan a Pacific-contextualised baseline to build on. This is global credibility stitched to local meaning.
What does culture stewardship commit to?
Consultations were candid about the pressures. Heavy reliance on migrant workers, without consistent cultural orientation, means visitors are occasionally greeted with a Fijian “Bula!” rather than the local “Kia Orana.” Fake artifacts and unauthorised use of traditional designs circulate, a problem now compounded by AI reproduction. The Traditional Knowledge Act (2013) provides a legal framework yet remains difficult to enforce. The plan identifies an increased risk of the Cook Islands traditional language, Te Reo Māori, becoming an endangered tongue within a generation.
The plan responds with six culture outcomes, ranging from community-validated authenticity standards and fair compensation for knowledge holders to funded elder-youth knowledge transmission programmes and systematic monitoring of cultural tourism impacts. It also names the central tension: tourism revenue funds cultural activity, yet that same economic relationship pressures traditions to become performances. The plan’s answer is to keep culture and tourism woven together, with knowledge holders controlling the sharing and capturing the benefit.
Stitching in the whole government
Implementation now moves ahead with an all-of-government approach, whereby a Destination Stewardship Advisory Group chaired by the tourism minister provides strategic oversight. A Project Management Unit coordinates delivery and provides technical support. For each area of stewardship, a person serving as a Wellbeing Lead provides expert input and helps to coordinate relevant stakeholders. The Cook Islands Tourism Corporation engages stakeholders, including industry and communities. Island councils, traditional leaders through the House of Ariki and Koutu Nui, and the private sector each hold a role in the implementation. Like the quilt, the design holds because every panel is sewn in.
“We are no longer just promoting a destination, we are protecting a way of life. This plan is a collective approach across our islands, with tourism as the driver: Cook Islands Tourism bringing industry to the table, standing alongside our communities, every ministry, every island council, and our traditional leaders. Our job is to lead this change so that stewardship delivers for every Cook Islander.”—Karla Eggelton, CEO, Cook Islands Tourism Corporation
Rooted in the values of Mana Tiaki, the duty of guardianship that preserves these islands for future generations, the plan builds on the “Love our Little Paradise” brand platform to invite visitors to share in that care. Kia Orana, “may you live long,” is how Cook Islanders greet the world. Our Paradise, Our Promise is how they intend tourism to return the blessing.
For more details, please see the Cook Islands Destination Stewardship Plan 2026–2030.
Dr. David Ermen is a destination stewardship strategist and lead consultant on the Cook Islands Destination Stewardship Plan 2026–2030. The Cook Islands is a self-governing state in free association with New Zealand.