Taking over the reins
Cook Islands Tourism CEO shares her goals for the Corporation

It was while experiencing yet another bitterly frigid European winter that Carmel Beattie made a life-changing resolution.
“I decided I didn’t need to live in a cold place ever again my entire life,” she said.
Beattie, who assumed the chief executive reins with the Cook Islands Tourism Corporation in early June, has worked in tourism for nearly 30 years, mostly in her native Australia, including stints with the state tourism office for Queensland and Tourism New South Wales.
She took over the big chair with CI Tourism just in time to face budget cuts, staff defections and high expectations for the new direct flights from Sydney.
Turama sat down recently with Beattie to elicit her opinions on her early days on the job, the increase in visitor numbers, her goals for the future, and the pressure of helming a corporation that many people feel is vital to the very survival of the nation.
Q: How does your job with Cook Islands Tourism compare with the other marketing positions you’ve held?
A: There are a lot of similarities with destination marketing. For me, I have to be very passionate about what I do. So it had to be a product or a destination that I believe in. That’s easy here because this is a wonderful destination and I think we have such pluses for ourselves with not just our physical environment but also a cultural environment. The way that Cook Islanders respond to visitors and the way that everybody lives here is a great boon. We know, because people keep telling us they never want to leave.
Working here, for me, it’s the best of both worlds because there’s a wonderful pace to life here and people take the time to savour their lives. However, with this job, there are also great intellectual challenges. I have the best of the both worlds: I get to swim in the lagoon and I get to make exciting and important decisions.
Q: Do you feel pressure because so much of the country’s economy is dependent on tourism?
A: I feel a responsibility, as does everybody who works in tourism. And, quite frankly, that’s everybody on the islands. That’s the thing I really want to get across to people: one of the unique selling points of the Cook Islands is that, unlike many other island destinations where people are locked in their resort and really don’t interact terribly much with local people unless they do a village tour, here, in the Cook Islands, visitors are out and about and part of the day-to-day culture all of the time.
That is a great opportunity for them, and it’s something that’s a great selling point for us, but it also puts the onus back on us to be as welcoming and open as possible. So whether driving the bus, or whether you’re serving in a restaurant, or whether you actually own a resort, everybody is part of that same visitor situation. Here, if you’re not nice to visitors, it has an impact on all of us. Not that I fear that, because I know the people are incredibly friendly, which is great.
From the point of view of developing tourism, yeah, it’s incredibly important. I feel a great responsibility, but that’s part of the joy of this role as well. It’s something that must be taken seriously because of the economic benefit that tourism brings to the country. Definitely, tourism has the opportunity to take us to greater heights.
Q: What are you doing differently from your predecessors?
A: I’m not really concerned with happened in the past. I’m more about what’s happening in the future. From my point of view, I’m very much about working with the industry and working with the community. I’d like to hear what the community has to say about tourism.
I’m all about consultation and working together. You still have to be a strong leader but I don’t see anything weak about consulting and getting great ideas from people. If somebody else has a great idea, let’s use it.
I’m very interested in new technology. We’re upgrading our website and it’s going to be very exciting. When it’s finished, it’s going to be something to proud of and really showcase both our products and our experiences and give a real feel for what it’s like to be here.
In this role, you have to be as pro-active as possible. You have to be as collegiate as possible in the way you work. I hope that I can work to inspire my team here and get them really excited about what they’re doing. And with that, work with the community and the industry to get us to that next level.
Q: How are the visitor numbers?
A: The tourist numbers are fabulous at the moment. The visitor numbers we had in July were the highest we’ve had in July for years – in fact, ever – from Australia and New Zealand. The only market that was a little bit down was the UK, and that’s probably one country that’s taking a very long time to get out of an economic slump.
Everybody I’ve spoken to has had some of the best times they’ve had all year. The beginning of the year was really slow, but we’ve actually caught up now and our visitor numbers are above last year, for this same period of time, and that’s great.
Q: How is the Sydney flights trial working out?
A: They’ve actually gone very well. We’re not going to get completely full flights, because that doesn’t often happen. We’re probably looking at around 65 to 70 per cent capacity by the end, and we’re really working hard to make sure that happens.
Q: How important is it to have a direct flight from Australia?
A: Australians are some of the most prolific travellers in the world and so we should be getting some of their dollars. There were 560 extra visitors from Australia this July than there was previously, so that’s fantastic from our point of view. The challenge is that we didn’t start as early with the marketing as we would like to have. Originally, the government gave us a million dollars to market this programme, which it does need because Australia is an expensive market to work in. Unfortunately, the cyclone in Aitutaki took that money away, as it quite rightly had to be used for redeveloping Aitutaki.
Q: Will we see the Sydney flights return in 2011?
A: I really hope so. It’s fundamental to developing that market. The trial, I think, has been very successful.
Q: How is the North American market going?
A: The North American market was up last month. The flights from L.A., they’re around 70 per cent full. They’re still doing well.
Q: The Cook Islands reached the magic 100,000-visitor mark in 2009. Do you have a goal in mind as far as an annual number of visitors?
A: I’d certainly like to get the 100,000 again. What we have in mind is that our next goal is 150,000. Now, I’m not assuming that 150,000 comes this year. What I would like to see is aggregating numbers growing towards that. It would be wonderful if we could get there over a 3-5 year progress.
Q: Do we have the infrastructure to support greater tourism numbers?
A: It’s important for us to plan our tourism growth and to work very closely with Environment and with infrastructure to ensure that we do have the right facilities and the right everything, down to our septic tanks.
Government is working together. We regularly meet to talk about the different needs of the different departments and how one is impacting the other. Looking at the environment and seeing what are the things we could be doing that will actually provide employment for Cook Islanders, give them reasons to stay here on the islands and to actually create viable businesses for themselves.
Q: Is part of the challenge of the job not knowing when something like the recession might take a bite out of tourism?
A: You have to be on the lookout for these things and be watching. No one could actually realize the size of the recession and the swiftness of the recession. What I think is very important is to not put all of our eggs in one basket. I think it’s very dangerous to just be focussing on one particular market. That’s why it’s important for us to look at the best advantages and have a mix.
I think it’s important to have backpackers, for instance. For me, they’re usually the five-stars of tomorrow. They’re experienced travellers, they have a lust for travel, they want to do lots of different things.
We’re very lucky because we have such a spread of accommodation types, which is unusual seeing that we’re a small destination. We have everything from five-star through to backpacker. We’ve got everything from fully catered to do-it-yourself. That is a great advantage to us. That means we are open to meeting the needs of a lot of segments of the market.
Q: Any thought about promoting tourism for some of the Outer Islands?
A: That is part of our destination development. We’re really focussed on developing opportunities for the Outer Islands. Aitutaki is, obviously, a magnificent destination, and it’s gaining destination status in its own right, so that’s fantastic. But you have other islands, for instance Atiu and Mangaia, that are ready to take that next step. Mangaia has actually fallen in love with tourism since the fabulous success of the eclipse. There are great opportunities in those places to bring people to them.
Q: Are you enjoying your new life in the Cook Islands?
A: I just love living here in the Cook Islands. I find it a wonderful place. I’m a real beach person and so start every day with a swim in the lagoon. I have a theory that all that surf pounding into the reef is actually sending a tremendous amount of energy onto the island. I feel very invigorated when I’ve been in the water and I’m ready to start the day. There is something about this place that not just pleases people but really inspires people. There is a spirit on the island. It’s in the people, it’s in the place. I feel very privileged to be here and very excited about the future.

By John Irealand

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