A new series of promotional material is currently being produced in New Zealand for marketing in Australia and New Zealand of Vanuatu as a tourist destination.
This is according to the General Manager of the Vanuatu Tourism Office (VTO), Linda Kalpoi.
“We are now working together with our stakeholders to get more tourists to come to Vanuatu, we have TV advertising that will be running in Australia and New Zealand as we speak. At the same time we have new videos on line and on social media,” she said.
“We have new videos that they are working on at the moment in New Zealand. So, there’s a lot of work behind the scene together with other stakeholders to re-launch Vanuatu after Tropical Cyclone Pam and especially now with the issue of the Bauerfield Airport runway,” she added.
“So, that’s where we really are, working together to ensure that once everything is back on track, we will be out there just showing the world how beautiful Vanuatu is and that we are back as an enjoyable paradise.”
Speaking at the welcome ceremony for the arrival of the new Air Vanuatu Boeing 737-800, Kalpoi said the arrival of the new aircraft was something that the Vanuatu tourism sector had been waiting for and it was good to see it finally coming through.
“Despite all the negatives happening in the country, this morning is one of the positive messages that we can come out with very strongly that we have a brand new aircraft of the new generation of Boeing aircraft.
“Basically everything in there is going to give extra comfort, the real experience when people step on board the Air Vanuatu aircraft, they can feel that Vanuatu is a South Pacific country, but we have the comfort like the other countries that have the same aircraft," speaking of the new plane.
She said it is a huge breakthrough and is something that the country can use to promote and market Vanuatu further.
On the situation with the Bauerfield Airport runway issue, Kalpoi said there have been a lot of high level discussions with the government and that a plan was already in place to fix the runway in the next six weeks or so.
“Within that time we should able to see Air New Zealand and Virgin Australia coming back to do their due diligence and I know that they will resume flights again, because I know there are people out there wanting to come to Vanuatu and are asking to come,” she added.
“They have been forced to take the action they took, so the matter is now top priority, hence we’re all working on that with the government to sort it out.”
The VTO General Manager added that the testimony of the Air Vanuatu Boeing aircraft landing safely and that other airlines and Air Vanuatu were still flying “is a huge message to the world that our runway is still safe”