Transcript
Lucy manages several bars and restaurants around Rarotonga.
She doesn't want to use her real name because sexual harassment is a taboo subject in the Cook Islands.
"I have had staff leaving because they don't want to be in the industry because they're like... aw ... I don't want to be harassed every single night that I'm working."
Lucy says Cook Islanders' culture and even dancing can be taken the wrong way.
"It's a very different social behaviour but they're not trying to come on to people but tourists always take it the wrong way and they say ... aw they're so friendly and they take advantage of that."
Her experience echoes findings of an Auckland University of Technology study published late last year.
The researcher Lisa Sadaraka interviewed 32 men and women across the industry in 2014.
"I felt like I'd opened up Pandora's Box. I wasn't sure what response I was going to get, given the sensitive nature of the research but once one person came forward there were others that came forward and I just had an overwhelming response to the study and I think it indicated to me that this is an issue that is getting brushed under the carpet.
Alcohol was seen as the main thing behind the behaviour.
But the participants also felt visitors misunderstood Cook Islanders' natural friendliness and some of their customs like kissing on greeting.
There was concern about the increasingly skimpy dancing costumes some troupes used to cater for tourists, the way bosses encouraged workers to show off their physiques and titillating marketing campaigns.
The Cook Islands Tourism Corporation's CEO Halatoa Fua says many factors are influencing workers to leave the industry from depopulation to salary levels as well as job satisfaction.
But he acknowledges there is an issue.
"It's a good discussion and we did welcome Lisa's study. We do think there's a an issue here that we need to address and we have to look at the wider policies and practices that are currently in place in the private sector and also how we can facilitate that from a government perspective."
Mr Fua says more research is needed to see if the way the country's marketed to tourists is encouraging sexual harassment of workers.
Lucy, the bar manager, says there needs to be more education on the subject and the tourism industry needs to take care about messages it's putting out to protect workers like the young dancers at cultural shows.
"Most of them are college kids that do dancing so they're all small and slim and they get harassed as well so they don't know. That's more of a worry because they have no idea what sexual harassment is and how to handle it. They feel disgusted but they just smile."
Ms Sadaraka has recommended workplaces bring in zero tolerance policies and training for their workers to deal with sexual harassment.
