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palau is known as one of the premier
diving destinations in the world we want
to maintain that image
and the actual experience that our
visitors get to partake in
we have a tagline that says pristine
paradise talam with this rich culture we
wanted the visitors to actually
experience what that means
as a resident and as a local
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my name is uh kevin mesa blue
and i've been the director for the
bureau of tourism for two years
here the republic of palau
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palawans are so passionate about
conservation
we're trying to do our part even though
palau as a nation does not have
that big of a carbon footprint
why can't we set an example for the rest
of the world to follow
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the palau pledge it's the voice of our
children
asking you as a traveler visiting our
home to be mindful to be more respectful
to treat it as a place that
you consider your home as well
you know you can't always guide people
to think a certain way
we can definitely take actions to make
people think and second guess why they
want to travel and how they want their
experience to become
in 2009
palau took the step to become the
world's first
national shark sanctuary
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we now know that because of that effort
our reefs are more resilient they're
more productive and we offer
more of a pristine environment for our
divers and our tourists to come enjoy
our waters
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when they come into palau they sign the
palau pledge which means there are
mindful travelers and we continue that
mindset to where before you leave you
have the option to offset your trip
you come to palau there's more above
water than underwater
and so we hope that initiatives like the
shark sanctuary
carbon neutral destination the plow
pledge
really hammers on the point that this is
who we are as a people these are things
we want you to be mindful of and so if
you're a curious traveler
you you automatically start thinking why
are they doing this differently do you
want to take our culture
and pass it on to our visitors
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