Tourism

Strong visitor growth continues in the Pacific region

Fiji continues to be the top destination in the region.

Arrivals to the organisation's member countries provisionally reached over 460,000 in the March quarter of 2018.

The latest quarterly review reports visitors to the Asia and Pacific region were up 8.2 percent from 7.3 percent in the December quarter.

The latest figures outperformed last March's quarter by about 6 percent.

CEO Chris Cocker said Fiji continues to be the top destination with 36.7 percent of visitors followed by French Polynesia at 9.7 percent, Palau on 7.3 and PNG 7.2.

Island tourists urged to get to know the locals

Christopher Cocker said culture was at the centre of what was on offer in the Pacific and a recent global meeting had emphasised the need for indigenous people to have more of a voice in the way tourism was planned and developed.

He said tourists to the region also needed to be encouraged to branch out when they travelled to the region to gain a more authentic experience of the diverse cultures they were visiting.

New tourism website launched for Tanna

The visitor information and bookings centre opened its office in October last year and now has over 25 members from Tanna. It commenced taking bookings in March and it is hoped that this new website will assist increase booking numbers and tourist interest in traveling to Tanna.

South Pacific promoted at ‘Meet the Pacific’ roadshow in Europe, UK and Asia

The roadshow is held prior to the 2018 ITB Berlin tradeshow, the largest travel trade show in Europe.

‘Meet the Pacific’ is a one-day business-to-business meeting through pre-scheduled appointments in six European and two Asian countries bringing together resort partners, tourism board and airline partners (sellers) from the South Pacific to meet key European, UK and Asian tour operators (buyers) who are committed to promoting and selling the South Pacific destinations. 

Farmers need to connect with buyers in the tourism industry

This applies also to tourists that visit the Pacific, according to the Hilton (2014) survey of travellers which says that 36 percent of tourists interviewed chose their holiday destination based on food and drinks on offer.

Vanuatu is the only country in the Pacific with an agri-tourism policy that recognises the link between agriculture and tourism. Its focus is on growing more local produce and encouraging hotels and restaurants to use local foods on their menu in the hope that it will eventually decrease their fresh food import bill.

New Caledonia tourism gets China boost

The designation means that selected Chinese tour operators can organise group travel while having a control mechanism to guarantee safe and reliable tourism services for their Chinese customers.

The measure was announced by China's ambassador to France Zhai Jun during a visit to Noumea where he met the caretaker vice president Jean-Louis d'Anglebermes.

Several Pacific Islands countries have been added to the list in the past decade, including Papua New Guinea.

 

 

Photo: RNZ Pacific New Caledonia 

Elton John kicks off regional tour with Mackay show

Sir Elton will play tonight in Mackay and next Saturday in Cairns, with performances in Wollongong and Hobart in between.

The four dates are the 70-year-old singer's only public shows on his Australian tour, which is largely sold out but now has limited tickets in some locations.

Fifteen thousand visitors are expected at tonight's Mackay performance, with 5,000 of that number travelling from outside the region, including 200 from overseas.

Big boost for local economy

Cooks gets good tourism report card

The Cook Islands International Visitor Survey report for the final quarter of last year shows the local tourism industry performing well.

The report, prepared by the New Zealand Tourism Research Institute and the Auckland University of Technology, showed visitor satisfaction levels and the desire for return visits remained very high.

Visitor yield also remained strong over the mid-2015 to mid-2016 period, largely accounted for by increased levels of expenditure on accommodation.

CNMI told unmanaged growth may jeopardise tourism industry

A recent study by Horwarth HTL, a Hong Kong-based consultant for the Marianas Visitors Authority, said there was an overall lack of planning for future development.

It said such unmanaged growth threatens the Northern Marianas because it does not allow the "loss of utilisation" of natural resources on the islands.

The study also said the long queues at airports and the condition of most of the territory's hotels could sap tourists' enthusiasm and patience.

There’s so much more to Vanuatu than resorts

Australian filmmaker Bentley Dean fell in love with the place on his first visit, and he’s spent the past 10 years looking for an excuse to go back.

In the end, the Melbourne-based director decided simply to move there.

“My partner and I have two small children, we wanted to introduce them to a new way of living. We tried it out with a holiday just to see if everyone would like it, our kids were two and four at the time, the communities were really welcoming. We decided to give it a go,” he told news.com.au.