Samoan Christina Leala‐Gale is the new Manager of Sustainable Tourism Development for the South Pacific Tourism Organisation (SPTO) in Suva. SPTO works with 16 Pacific island countries to market and develop tourism in South Pacific region.

Christina will be responsible for strengthening SPTO’s work in sustainable tourism development, bringing 14-years of experience to the position.

SPTO CEO Chris Cocker said sustainable tourism development is an area of great importance to Pacific Islands.

"The Sustainable Tourism Development Division is a new unit and as we evolve to also undertake tourism development programs, and I am pleased that we have qualified managers like Christina at the helm," he said.

“2017 is an important year for the Pacific...with global initiatives like the International Year of Sustainable Tourism Development."

 Christina 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.

Christina comes from the Secretariat of the Pacific Regional Environment Program  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.