20 May 2016
20th May, Gold Coast AUSTRALIA – Despite their hopes to secure meetings with more long haul buyers from Europe at the SPTE this year, a tour operator in Tonga says the SPTE has provided them the option to reconnect with traditional short haul source markets like Australia.
Maria Tuitavake said at the last minute buyers from Europe have decided not to come to meet her at this year's event because they had attended the other travel trade shows before the SPTE.
“I can't complain much about SPTE as it is hard to organize such an event and expect people to travel from other parts of the world to attend even though I have not got as many buyers from Europe today on the first day of the SPTE,” she said.
“I heard a lot of them came to shows in the region and got tired and decided not to attend SPTE at the last minute.
“However I hope to get some from the Australian market who have come here in numbers and I have been able to get queries from Australian and Chinese buyers,” she said.
She said unlike in the past, flights to Tonga were quite frequent because of the connectivity to Fiji.
“We have a lot of tours that we can provide for the tourists coming to Tonga and we usually tell them that Tonga is still laid back and is not that established yet but it has its culture but we hope to get in there in the future and compete with the big players in the region.
“More tourists who have been to the popular destinations like Fiji are now looking for new destinations and one of them is Tonga.
South Pacific Tourism Organisation Acting Chief Executive Alisi Lutu said sellers from Tonga like Tuitavake were always going to face a challenge when buyers from their biggest source markets could not make the SPTE event.
“Nevertheless Tonga is very passionate about its tourism and with a completely unique product that will entice many international visitors, we are encouraged by the good presence we have this year from our local tour and tourism suppliers in the Kingdom,” Lutu said.
About SPTO
Established in 1983 as the Tourism Council of the South Pacific, the South Pacific Tourism Organisation (SPTO) is the mandated organisation representing Tourism in the region.
Its 18 Government members are American Samoa, Cook Islands, Federated States of Micronesia, Fiji, French Polynesia, Kiribati, Nauru, Marshall Islands, New Caledonia, Niue, Papua New Guinea, Samoa, Solomon Islands, Timor Leste, Tonga, Tuvalu, Vanuatu and the People's Republic of China. In addition to government members, the South Pacific Tourism Organisation enlists a private sector membership base.
ENDS
For more information, contact:
Robert Matau
South Pacific Tourism Organisation
