Samoa looked promising as another tourist destination for the Japanese outbound travelers in the near future, after Samoa Tourism Authority and…
Samoa looked promising as another tourist destination for the Japanese outbound travelers in the near future, after Samoa Tourism Authority and some members of its tourism industry for the first time, attended the recent Japanese Association of Travel Agents 2005 Fair held in Tokyo, Japan from 22 to 24 September 2005.
The JATA Fair is an annual event that attracts not only hundreds of the Japanese travel agents, wholesalers and operators, but it is also a forum in which most overseas tourism organizations and businesses come to promote their products and services, as well as destinations to these Japanese “intermediaries” with the main aim of attracting more Japanese visitors onto their shores.
According to Sala Pio Tagiilima, Manager Marketing & Promotions of Samoa Tourism Authority, “Japan is another emerging tourist market for the Pacific region, and the participation of seven local tourism operators including STA at JATA 2005, was an excellent opportunity for Samoa tourism industry to all come together and present what it has to offer as a new tourist destination to the Japanese buyers. It really made a big impact on the exposure of Samoa in the Japanese market, than it would have been, by going alone, as most local participants had combined their resources and shared costs in promoting their individual businesses at this Fair”.
The participation of STA and the local tourism operators at JATA 2005, was made possible with the great assistance provided by JICA, which helped financing the set up and decoration of the display booth and organizing seminars at JATA, DVDs, sales kits and sending of these materials from Samoa to Japan, as well as financing travel to this event for Mr Katsumi Ono, a JICA senior volunteer, currently attached to Samoa Tourism Authority. Other assistance was provided by the New Zealand Government under their Marketing Support Funds for the private sector, as well as the assistance by Air Pacific through discounted airfares, which all enabled the local operators to attend this year’s JATA.
The Hon. Minister of Tourism, Hans Joachim Keil showed his great appreciation of this assistance and had expressed his sincere gratitude to JICA, the New Zealand Government, and Air Pacific for all what they had done, especially with the tourism promotion at JATA 2005. “I hope that our participation at JATA 2005, had been a successful first attempt to lure the Japanese travellers to our shores in the near future, and therefore, on behalf of the Government of Samoa, I would like to thank JICA, the New Zealand Government and Air Pacific in particular, for their assistance which enabled STA and some industry members to attend JATA 2005” said Mr Keil.
Representatives from Aggie Grey’s Lagoon, Beach Resort & Spa, Hotel Insel Fehmarn, Island Hopper Vacations, Pacific International Travel & Tours, Hotel Kitano, Oceania Travel & Tours and Samoa Tourism Authority attended this major event in Japan, and the industry plans are now underway for promotional campaigns in the year 2006, to target the Japanese market, including the industry participation at the next year’s JATA.
Theodore is the Co-Founder and Managing Editor of TravelDailyNews Media Network; his responsibilities include business development and planning for TravelDailyNews long-term opportunities.
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