The Cook Islands is grappling with how to entice an exodus of young people back to the country.
The Covid-19 pandemic left many Cook Islands resorts empty Photo: 123RF
Depopulation has long been an issue for the Cook Islands, but those numbers have shot up in the past few months, mostly tied to the loss of jobs in the tourism industry due to the Covid-19 pandemic.
Api'I Tumutoa used to work for Air Rarotonga, the domestic airline which shuttles people across the Pa Enua - the outer Cook Islands.
But when Covid struck and the tourists left, his work hours disappeared. The government wage subsidy wasn't enough to support his young family.
"I just had to find a secondary job, and I was lucky enough to get into a job in government," he explained.
But while Tumutoa was able to land a job, many more young Cook Islanders weren't.
"Covid came, the subsidy came in place. But it wasn't enough to feed the family and pay the bills at the same time. They had to go out and find another job."
He said many of those who weren't lucky enough to get a job felt compelled to leave for New Zealand.
After all, Cook Islanders are New Zealand citizens, and since January, when they've been allowed quarantine-free entry.
"I've seen a lot of young people, a lot of my young friends too, leave the island. Some of them have gone down to the freezing works, and some of them have gone to do fruit picking," Tumutoa said.
Firm data on just how many people have left since January - particularly, how many have moved permanently - is still being collated by the Cook Islands government.
But ask any young person here on Rarotonga if they have a similar story to Api'I Tumutoa, and they invariably do.
"I've got a lot of friends who just upped and left. They were struggling. They lost their jobs," said Tino Tautu, a young farmer at Takitimu.
"It's the last thing to do... the only thing to do. They've got families to look atfer, so you can't judge them for just shifting."
Arriving through Auckland: many Cook Islanders who leave their country travel to New Zealand Photo: RNZ
Many of those who've left have gone to temporary vocations - such as seasonal work. But the fear is many who left won't return.
Depopulation has been an issue in the Cook Islands for generations. But in the last decade that trend had slowed. Now there are fears the pandemic could reverse this.
The prime minister, Mark Brown, said he hoped the eagerly anticipated return of quarantine-free travel from New Zealand this week would help turn the tide.
"We're hoping though that when we do get back into business that they will find a way to come back and work back here," he said.
"But of course New Zealand is looking for workers and attracting Cook Islanders there."
However, the vice-president of the Cook Islands National Youth Council, Sieni Tiraa, said the government needed to look beyond tourism.
According to her, there needs to be a broader range of opportunity, and young people need to be consulted.
"When I spoke to a lot of the young people that have studied abroad and come back, they've said that there is nothing in their line of work to offer them in terms of jobs. Getting their input into what they want would be really good.
Tourism on the rebound? People waiting at the airport in Rarotonga on the first day of the travel bubble with New Zealand. Photo: RNZ / Nick Truebridge
But not everyone is set on leaving. The past year has been tough for Tino Tautu, who proudly boasts about his taro, banana, tomatoes and coconuts, and his 'anau's long agricultural heritage.
His plantation used to supply resorts, markets, weddings and functions. All that business has now dried up.
Tautu thought about following friends away from the Cooks, but there's no place he'd rather be.
"Nah, I don't want to go. This is paradise. I love it here, and I can do what I love which is planting, which is wokring off the land. I love working outdoors, I've got the sun on my back - what more do I need?"