PICは2020年10月27日～10月31日の4日間、ソロモン諸島出身の留学生Eldine Devesiさんをインターンとして迎えました。
DivisiさんはJICAの太平洋島嶼国リーダー教育支援プログラム（Pacific-LEADS：Pacific Leaders’　Educational Assistance for Development of State）のもと現在立命館アジア太平洋大学の修士課程で研究をされており、ソロモン諸島では貿易、観光分野の行政官として活躍されていました。
今回はPICの沖縄での旅行博のブース出展に合わせインターンとして業務を経験しました。旅行博の準備及びアテンドに係わる業務に携わる傍ら、協和海運株式会社への訪問や東京の観光地視察、笹川平和財団の主任研究員である塩澤氏との意見交換、ソロモン政府観光局日本事務所の訪問を行い、島嶼国と日本間の貿易、観光の促進についての知見を広める機会を得ました。

〈インターン感想：Mr. Eldine Devesi〉
The internship involved several different tasks because it was hosted in two separate locations in Tokyo and Okinawa which was highly beneficial to me.
In terms of knowledge, I learnt of the roles of different organisations promoting the Pacific Islands as a tourism destination for Japanese tourists. I also experienced the several tourism attractions in Japan which is relevant to understand how these are maintained and managed. Attending the Tourism Expo was significant in learn the skill of promoting tourist destinations during such events. Overall, the internship experience was valuable and relevant to both my field of studies and profession.

In future, the professional networks formed will be pivotal in collaborating tourism promotion of Solomon Islands. Through this internship, understanding the market trends of Japanese otubound tourists will be useful when designing tourism products and services in Solomon Islands targeting Japanese tourists.　
There was relatively no diffculties faced during internship despite the cultural differences of Japan to Solomon Islands. The busines/professional etiquette of Japan is of a very respectful manner during professional settings which was well observed. The only notably difficulty was travelling in public transportation in the larger cities of Japan was overwhelming at times.
The internship was very fulfilling and professionally arranged despite the ongoing COVID-19 pandemic restrictions.

写真（左から）：太平洋諸島センター訪問、協和海運株式会社訪問、ソロモン政府観光局日本事務所訪問