I began with a reference to the need to develop specific recommendations for the continuation and development of the Vaka Moana program. I hope that my remarks have suggested to you some ideas in this regard both with regard to sustainable cultural tourism development and with regard to the promotion of effective local community management of cultural resources. I cannot presume to advise you on the future of Vaka Moana, but I can suggest three general areas of action that might be appropriate in regard to sustainable tourism development.
There is a need to elaborate regional, national and local guidelines for undertaking cultural impact assessments; such assessments should be required by law prior to the approval of each (tourism) development activity.
There is a need to undertake national inventories, including surveys and maps, of all immovable physical cultural heritage and sites—and to determine their visitor carrying capacity—with a view to their long-term protection within the framework of the 1972 UNESCO World Heritage Convention, and other appropriate international, national, local and customary conservation instruments.
There is a need to develop, where they do not already exist, instructional modules for teaching regional, national and, especially, local heritage in the formal school system. With special reference to tourism development, there is a need for teaching school-leavers in non-formal situations with the particular aim of training and licensing local heritage expert guides and resource persons.