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In recognition of the need for National Parks and protected areas in the South Pacific, the New Zealand Government hosted the First South Pacific Conference on National Parks and Reserves in 1975, in association with the South Pacific Commission (SPC) and the International Union for the Conservation of Nature and Natural Resources (IUCN). This meeting was at Ministerial. A second South Pacific Conference on National Parks and Reserves, also at Ministerial level, was held in 1979 in Australia. This was hosted by the Australian Government and the Government of New South Wales, which adopted the conference as one of the events celebrating the Centennial of the Royal NationaL Park as the first national park in Australia. The 1979 Conference decided that the third Conference should be hosted by a Pacific Island country.

Tourism is big business. Internationally it is the second largest industry behind oil, while in New Zealand it is the sixth largest sector in the economy. The importance of tourism is noted by the Government and others: at last year's Economic Summit Conference, the then President of the Manufacturers' Federation, Earl Richardson, termed the industry "the sleeping giant" of the economy. At the same conference, a tourism spokesman predicted the number of overseas visitors could increase from 583, 000 to one million by 1990.