Tourism

The Island nation was rated last week by one of the world’s leading online travel companies, Expedia in Seattle.

Expedia said "The top island destinations to travel to this winter have been revealed in the Expedia Island Index.”

"New data has shown islands are seeing a strong travel resurgence, with accommodation searches for islands on the index increasing by an average of 315 per cent in the last year.”

The show is the USA's most prestigious travel event, enabling marketers to reach a large number of consumers and travel agents under one roof.

According to Samoa Tourism Authority, such a large-scale international event is crucial for Samoa given the huge potential to drive awareness amongst consumers and also create an abundance of opportunities to work with the U.S travel agents, tour operators and members of the press.

One of the hallmarks of Fiji's tourism industry is the world-class hospitality of the Fijian people.

Thanks to this kind of dedication from Fijian hospitality staff like Asenaca Nitayaqa - who you will meet properly a little later - the industry is on track to smash all its expectations for a recovery in 2022.

Fiji Tourism chief executive Brent Hill said at the start of the year they had set a goal to try and achieve visitor numbers of around 400,000.

They are now on track to almost doubling that number.

The Solomon Islands and Vanuatu will open on July 1, with Samoa and the Federated States of Micronesia a month later on August 1.

She has paid more than £3,500 ($4,390) for a 16-day tour, as under the country's Covid-19 restrictions she is not allowed to roam around on her own.

But Ms Ronayne, who lives in the UK, is still keen to make the trip.

"This will be my first time in Japan and also my first time in Asia. I am looking forward to it. I have been watching [Japanese reality TV show] Terrace House to learn some phrases," she said.

The organisation's CEO Christopher Cocker announced the partnership at the SIDs Global Business Network Forum in Palau.

Mr Cocker said it's a working group that can share best practices and information, which are important for Pacific nations considering opening their borders.

"To me it's a milestone because moving forward in terms of Covid recovery, no man's an island, we need to collaborate. And I've heard this week of how vital strategic partnerships are."

Cocker said the SIDs tourism sector faces a number of unique challenges right now because of the pandemic.

But in that time, some nations have decided to relax restrictions to welcome tourists back and revive the economy.

With sandy beaches and warm, sunny weather Cook Islands is a dream destination for many travellers.

Now Aussies can be part of the dream with Cook Islands opening its borders to Australians from the middle of next month, and the rest of the world in May.

A 10-day isolation stopover in New Zealand has also been ditched for international arrivals.

This was outlined in the Samoa Tourism Authority's annual report for financial year 2020.

A major concern is the industry's existing loans turning into non-performing loans of more than WST$200 million.

Financial year 2020 is arguably the most challenging to date for the Samoa Tourism Authority with overall visitor expenditures decreasing and declined.

The report said the total credit to the private sector as reported is approximately WST$2.02 billion at end of December 2019 with at least 13 percent or WST$260 million outstanding debts for tourism businesses.

Minister of Tourism, Toeolesulusulu Cedric Schuster said, “The continued border closure remains to affect travel to Samoa and whilst efforts to continue to actively pursue domestic tourism have provided some level of business and relief for operators, the numbers in comparison to pre-Covid-19 are significantly lower and are unsustainable for the majority of tourism businesses,”

“The lack of visitors in these challenging times has impacted on tourism businesses financially as they continue to struggle to stay afloat with the continued financial obligations.”

As of Thursday, fully vaccinated travellers from 19 countries including China, India, and France can enter Bali. The UK is not on the list.

But visitors must first serve a five-day quarantine in a hotel.

Officials had closed the international airport in April last year to stop the coronavirus from spreading.

In July, Indonesia became the epicentre of Covid in Asia, but daily cases have since reduced significantly.

Now the tourism sector is hoping that some of the 6 million foreigners who visited the island in 2019, before the pandemic hit, will return.