Tourism's role in peace and prosperity

RNZ News

04-07-2025

Samoan development entrepreneur Lelei Tuisamoa Lelaulu
Photo:
Supplied
The Nobel Peace Prize has been won by presidents, fighters for the oppressed, people who've changed history and who've put their lives on the line for a cause.
So when Washington-based Auckland-educated Lelei Tuisamoa Lelaulu found out he'd been nominated, it's not surprising he thought it was a prank.
He is a Samoan development entrepreneur whose leadership has extended across the globe including the United Nations, the World Bank, the International Finance Corporation, and the World Indigenous Games. He chairs the Earth Council Alliance and a council at George Washington University School of Business.
This year he told the Metropolitan Museum of Art to take its reimagined Rockefeller Wing arts collections on tour to the places they came from.
Lelaulu is nominated "for his work in reshaping the narrative around tourism - not just for leisure, but as a vessel of peace."
He's still trying to get his head around the nomination. "It's a huge honour and I'm just a little bit stunned waiting for something to happen. It's a little bit overwhelming."
Lelaulu was nominated by NGOs associated with the Anglican Church and the United Nations. "It was a bit out-of-the-blue in a sense 'cause I don't really go to Anglican churches or any churches generally, so I thought it was a prank initially, and then they called back and it was true, and they sent the recommendation and I saw it and away it went. We'll see what happens."
But what does tourism have to do with peace?
"I think that tourism is the only real peace dividend," he said. "It's basically the industry of peace because if you think about it ..... this is the largest transfer of resources from the haves to the have nots in history - voluntarily. No one's forcing it.
"Then you think about the hundreds of millions of lives that have been lost because people tried to wrest resources from others over the centuries it's just astounding but tourism has reversed all that," Lelaulu said.
If it's handled properly tourism gets resources and money to communities instead of corporations "and it has enormous possibilities for allowing communities to improve their education, their health, their welfare and their dignity - their ability to live lives of dignity. That's why I think the industry of peace is tourism," he said.
Lelaulu explained to Lei'ataualesa Susana Lei'ataua in a special episode of The Detail that bilateral aid goes mostly to the treasuries of countries whereas tourism handled properly goes to families and the communities directly "and it builds them up and gives them a whole new dignity of life".
But how does tourism fit in when it comes to conflict zones?
"In terms of conflict we have to end the conflicts before tourism can apply. It is very much the industry of peace because once there's peace then people tend to stream across borders to see what their former adversaries are like and what they did and how they live, and this then builds up connections between former adversaries and this is what I hope for," Lelaulu said.
Lelaulu is quick to point out the "holus bolus" introduction of tourists is not the answer. The wine routes in France are a successful example of a planned approach to directing a huge percentage of tourists outside of an over-crowded Paris, benefiting the agricultural sector.
He said we could take a leaf out of that book.
"New Zealand is obviously one of the most beautiful countries on the planet but it also has one of the richest cultural ethnic heritages that should be looked at, and pulling people out of the major tourist destinations is the way to do it."
Lelaulu highlights Māori tourism.
"It's incredibly innovative and very effective. If you look at what they're doing in the South Island, looking at Kaikōura and what the iwi are doing there that's enormous. It's one of the most successful tourism projects in New Zealand ... and they're very, very generous with the local communities which is an important thing."
Lelaulu was a guest speaker at re-opening of the Metropolitan Museum of Art's US$70m revamped Michael C.Rockefeller Wing in New York, and had a strong message for them.
"We should move these wonderful pieces of art around the world so that more and more people should see them...... move it overseas to the major art capitals of the world and also to the places of origin like Papua New Guinea, Tonga, Samoa, Fiji. Let the people there see the beauty of what emerged from their artists a long, long time ago."
Lelaulu suggested these collections would tour for six months at a time and door-take profits would be split with the destinations to upgrade and build "museologically sound" facilities for the artefacts.
"In a sense as the collection goes around and as you return some of the artefacts now and then where applicable, the collection that comes back to the Metropolitan Museum is going to be richer and more valuable than the exhibit that left, so I called it a cultural diplomatic continuum."
The 2025 Nobel Peace Prize will be announced on 10 October, with the award ceremony taking place on 10 December in Oslo, Norway.
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