KIA ORANA PLUS
Rapid Training Programme
The Cook Islands has taken swift action to keep its residents safe from COVID-19.
COVID-19 has changed the world as we know it, for now and perhaps for the foreseeable future. Children all over the world are learning from home. Churches aren’t congregating. Restaurants are closing.
In the Cook Islands however, schools, churches, restaurants, and beaches remain open. For now, the borders remain closed, but both the government and the tourism industry are actively planning for the day visitors are welcome to visit paradise. Staff in hospitality are being trained to operate within the framework of a new normal.
In order to standardise this training, Cook Islands Tourism has developed a programme called Kia Orana Plus, delivered via a series of short videos. The videos cover the attributes of the novel coronavirus and explain how to recognise it, how it gets trans- mitted, and how to effectively prevent its spread.
They also break down the elements of the Cook Islands Promise, a pledge designed to bind hosts and visitors in a commitment to keep the Cook Islands safe from COVID-19. This includes maintaining physical distance and practicing careful hygiene. The Cook Islands Promise also asks tourism operators to modify their procedures in ways that emphasise disinfection and minimise unnecessary contact between staff and guests.
The Kia Orana Plus training is being delivered remotely and on-site to more than 3,000 employees in the tourism industry and will also be made available to the wider community.
COOK ISLANDS
PROMISE
In anticipation of welcoming tourists back to the Cook Islands, residents are taking the Cook Islands Promise, a pledge developed jointly by Cook Islands Tourism, the Cook Islands Ministry of Health, and the Office of the Prime Minister, which binds hosts and guests in a mutual commitment to keeping one another safe.
In mid-June, the government and a taskforce representing the private sector launched CookSafe, a system designed with support from the team that made codeREADr, a barcode scanning tool with integrated web service.