Not all communities living on the outer islands are fortunate to have regular shipping services. This is due to longer distances and limited products or produce which cannot sustain shipping services costs on such routes. Though a number of ships do engaged on uneconomical routes at times, no regular schedules were adopted and voyages are at the operators own costs. Some of these faced issues were resolve by working corporately with the ship operators, owners, and communities

There are 220,000 people living on 12,000 km2 covering Vanuatu’s 82 islands. Two-thirds of employment is in agriculture. There remain gaps in inter-island transport. The ADB country strategy focuses on (i) transport, (ii) urban infrastructure, especially in Port Vila, and iii) energy.

The goal of this study is to quantify the economic impacts of cruising, and to provide data on the cruise sector’s effect on economic activity. The study then identifies a set of investment opportunities that can help to increase the economic benefits of cruise tourism in Vanuatu. This report therefore seeks to provide a platform that can be used by government, the private sector and donor partners to support further strategic, targeted development of cruising.