The South Pacific Tourism Organisation will have a new Chief Executive Officer, following its recent Board of Directors meeting held in Gold Coast, Queensland last week.
The SPTO Board announced the appointment of Tonga national, Christopher Cocker, as its CEO. The appointment of Cocker comes as no surprise given his vast regional experience in trade, investment and regional tourism and having worked with regional agencies such as the Pacific Trade & Invest Auckland office, Pacific Community (SPC), to mention a few.
Cocker was also employed by the SPTO in recent years as the Project Manager for the EU-funded Pacific Regional Tourism Capacity Building Programme (PRTCBP) which was implemented by the regional tourism organisation.
Welcoming the news, SPTO’s Acting CEO Alisi Lutu said, “Our heartfelt congratulations to Chris and we look forward to starting this new chapter with him at the helm of SPTO. It is an important role given SPTO’s mandate to market and develop regional tourism and we are glad that Chris’ experience and expertise will come in handy when he assumes his position”.
The Board and staff of SPTO convey its utmost and sincere congratulations to Cocker and anticipates his assumption of official duties soon.
