Friendly, unique but filthy

By Ulafala Aiavao

WHEN tourists enjoy their stay in Western Samoa they praise the friendly people and unique cul ture. When they discuss shortcomings, says hotelier Alan Grey of the premier 156-room Aggie Grey’s Hotel, the guests point out that “Apia is the filthiest place they’ve been to”.

Groups such as the Western Samoa Visitor’s Bureau have tried to sponsor cleanup schemes, but with little public support. Donations of rubbish bins by the private sector have had little success because the bins are among the most popular takeaway items in town. The standard bin 44 gallon drums cut in half — makes a good base for barbecues.

The handles on the bins mean that they are also valued as mobile storage.

Potholes on the roads also compete with cracked sidewalks and manholes lacking covers. Locals usually avoid the hazards, but several tourists have fallen into open manholes, or twisted their ankles on uneven pavements.

On the political front, Apia suffers from the fact that it is in a no-man’s land.

The two electorates closest to the capital overlap the outskirts of Apia, not the central business district. Therefore, no politician is directly accountable for the state of the capital. Nor is any depart ment directly responsible for its upkeep on a large scale.

In late August the govenment an

nounced it would set up an Apia Municipal Authority to oversee basic services. The proposed AMA is wel comed but it is seen by some groups and businesses as just another bureacratic arm and bureaucracy has not man aged to do the job in the past; The ideal, and cheapest solution, lies in national pride. This means people picking up rubbish (not the bins), and washing or painting public buildings.

On the tourism front itself, the indus try is slowly recovering from downturn that cut hotel occupancy to as low as 30 percent. Occupancy is now up, and promoters are trying to build up interest in the small resorts nearing completion in some of the outer villages.

At a recent International Travel

Industry Expo in Las Vegas, United

States Samoan representatives found that the overseas tourist promoters knew more about Aggie Grey’s Hotel than Western Samoa. Their first task now is to build up the visibility of the country.

Some, like Soose Annandale, a mar keting and sales manager, do not see Western Samoa as a sole destination, but part of a regional network of desti nations. Island-hoppers could take ad vantage of a Polypass ticket available from the national carrier Polynesian Airlines, which allows unlimited travel on a Polynesian Airlines service for 30 days.

After spending 5.5 million Tala to buy the 96-room Tusitala Hotel, Western

Samoa’s second biggest, the Japanese firm Kitano Contruction is investing another T 3 million renovating what is now called Kitano Tusitala. The hotel is seen as a base for travellers to go on day tours or overnight stays in a Samoan village to experience the culture, said Company secretary Yoshitada Mikami.

There are no plans yet to tap the Japanese market due to the absence of direct flights between Apia and Tokyo.

The Japanese are a tiny percentage of Western Samoa tourist traffic. Getting them to Apia would rely on picking them off from groups heading to Fiji, on the direct Nadi-Tokyo flight.

Mikami discounts the view that just because Japanese spend up big in Europe and the United States, they will do so in small island states.

“Many Japanese spend money on imported consumer goods (often Japan ese made) which are more expensive in Japan,” he said. Such goods are not normally available in Apia.

Local handicrafts tend to be small in range and often inferior in quality.

Mikami, now into his third month in Western Samoa, says that one of the country’s strong points is that it feels “safe, very safe.” Local tourist agents want the same view to rub off on security conscious travellers in places such as the US and Europe.

Tourism remains one of the promising sources of future revenue for Western Samoa. Earnings from tourism in 1989 of WST42 million compares to just WST3O million in merchandise exports for the same year. □