The Cook Islands tourism industry is getting back to where it was pre-pandemic, but it s still dealing with slow seasons and high airfares. Caleb Fotheringham of RNZ reports.
There are no fast food outlets, no international hotel chains, and, above all, no skyscrapers. Welcome to the Cooks, one island paradise that is going to stay that way because, after gaining self-governance in the 1960s, the government created a mandate of quite staggering foresight: no building could be taller than the tallest palm tree. Avarua, capital of the main island Rarotonga, is no Honolulu.