Late last year, Prime Minister Henry Puna announced a drive to create 1,900 new jobs in the next four years by developing tourism and the wider economy.
The announcement sparked concerns that more cheap foreign workers would be brought in because the Cook Islands does not have the labor force to fill the jobs.
Tourism Minister Teina Bishop said he’s not familiar with the exact number of foreign workers, but added that he’s aware it’s increasing and may need to be restricted.
But Cook Islands Tourism Corp. chief executive Carmel Beattie said the numbers are not growing, and those that are there are needed.
“While we are actually working on education programs and training our local Cook Islands people, there are other people that have come in to give advice and training to others. But also to fill those gaps while the industry is growing but our education processes need to catch up to that,” he said.
