Take care of visitors

“The beach at Avaavaroa is one of the most beautiful areas I have ever seen,” a smoke signaller writes. “But passages anywhere are by nature dangerous because of tidal rips. In my opinion the Tourism Corporation should have taken responsibility for the safety of our visitors and signposted all passages with caution signs ages ago. Lots of money goes to enticing visitors to our shores but our duty of care to visitors is lacking. It’s a pity it took a double fatality to get some action and even then the offer to put up signs comes from the New Zealand High Commissioner, not by Tourism, Police, Internal Affairs or even the Cook Islands Investment Corporation. Even local people can forget how dangerous passages can be. I am told Avaavaroa is where two men drowned while fishing.”

“The beach at Avaavaroa is one of the most beautiful areas I have ever seen,” a smoke signaller writes. “But passages anywhere are by nature dangerous because of tidal rips. In my opinion the Tourism Corporation should have taken responsibility for the safety of our visitors and signposted all passages with caution signs ages ago. Lots of money goes to enticing visitors to our shores but our duty of care to visitors is lacking. It’s a pity it took a double fatality to get some action and even then the offer to put up signs comes from the New Zealand High Commissioner, not by Tourism, Police, Internal Affairs or even the Cook Islands Investment Corporation. Even local people can forget how dangerous passages can be. I am told Avaavaroa is where two men drowned while fishing.”