Paradise bound

“WELCOME to Polynesian’s Pacific” the advertisement reads. Below it is an interesting diagram of air routes leading into and out of Apia.

The ad is for Western Samoa’s flag carrier, Polynesian Airlines, and the impressive route map shows how import ant the airline is to the country. In the region the airline flies to American Samoa, Fiji, Tonga, Niue, Cook Islands and Tahiti. It also flies to Australia and New Zealand two very important tourist markets. Outside of the region it flies to Los Angeles.

What is interesting about the flights, is they are not just to and from Western Samoa. For example you can catch a Polynesian flight from Nadi in Fiji to Los Angeles, via Apia or fly from LA to Western Samoa via the Cook Islands. As Gina Moore of Polynesian Airlines ex plains, they are not just focussing on Western Samoa but on the Pacific as a whole, giving the traveller options and

frequent service.

The airline has three flights a week to North America using their 767-300.

According to Moore they are really pushing the North American market because of the obvious potential there.

She says from next year their focus or marketing strategy will be to sell Western Samoa and the Pacific as “paradise”. She says in this world there are very few places you can call paradise, and the Pacific is one of them. What Moore says is the Pacific must do is take advantage of its uniqueness and market it. “Every one wants to visit paradise sometime in their life and we are giving them the chance to,” she said. • Apart from their 767, the airline also flies two 737-300 s. They have also entered into an aggrement with Royal

Tonga Airlines whereby Royal Tonga

leases Polynesian’s aircraft for its Nuku’alofa-Auckland route. Also one of their 737 aircraft converts into a cargo plane and does a courier flight in Australia once a week.

It this were no enough, they also have had charter flights to Japan. Moore says they are keeping a close eye on the Japanese and Asian market in general because of the enormous potential that is there.

All this adds up to an airline that is going places. The recent restructuring of its routes seems to be working. Moore

says the “inter connected nature” of their flights seems to the right approach.

For the future she says they have to tie up with big interna tional carriers to at tract tourists from markets such as Eur ope. They have already had talks with Virgin for con necting with the Eur ope market. They are also looking at Air France for the French connection and tie in with their existing flights that

go to Tahiti and New Caledonia.

For the long-term they will further upgrade their service and aircraft and further improve their overall image, according to Moore.

Moore says as they grow, the tourist numbers will rise and tourist accommo dation and facilities will increase and improve. Already Western Samoa has top class hotels such as the Kitano Tusitala and Aggie Greys and a lot of other very good accommodation. There are plans to vastly increase the number of tourist beds available over the next 10 years to keep pace with the expected increase in tourist numbers.

As Moore points out the airline is one of the main arteries for development and must be nurtured for the future.

Samoa Air Meanwhile another carrier that is important to the country is American Samoa-based Samoa Air. Operating since 1987 the airline caters for locals and tourists withe regular flights between the two Samoas.

With two twin Otters and a King Air they also operate flight to Tonga and do charters to Wallis Island.

According to the airline’s Western Samoa office manage, Billy Meredith, the airline does not compete with Polynesia as they have completely differ ent markets and routes. He said if anything the help each other as Poly nesian brings the long-haul passengers in and they cater for the shorter flights.

Meredith says for the long term they do not plan to get bigger aircraft and compete on the broader international scene. He says they are looking at new planes but these will only be 30-40 sealers.

He said a lot of their promotion abroad was done through the visitor’s bureau. Meredith says with the affect of the taro blight, tourism has become one of the country’s top priorities because of its earning potential. He said they have to develop this potential and ensure they have the goods to offer.

In the words of Meredith, “the future looks good”. □

Kitano Tuistala: one of Western Samoa’s premier hotels

Top class accommodation: available in Apia