Pulsating Polynesia
p. 39 · Read in the full issue
Tourism
Tourism is as economically impor tant for Polynesia as it is for the rest of the Pacific. Chris Wong, Cook Islands Tourist Authority’s director, says: “Tourism provides the Cooks with more revenue than all other industries combined. The Cooks earned NZ$5O mil lion from tourism in 1994 with 57,000 vis itor arrivals, there are 1000 rooms at venues that range from beachside hotels like the Rarotongan to small locally owned homestays. Outer isles, too, have accom modations - there are currently 80 rooms at lovely Aitutaki and up to another 220 on the way. The long-awaited, troubled 191room Sheraton is still incomplete, despite Wong’s observation that “there’s an 83percent hotel occupancy rate and the Cooks is near saturation”.
Tonga’s Tourism Minister, Tutoatasi Fakafanua, declares: “Tourism is Tonga’s most important industry.” According to Semisi Talimoepeau, the Tonga Visitors Bureau’s tourism director, there were
28,500 air visitors and 15,000 cruise ship passengers in 1994, an increase of 10.5 percent from the previous year. They spent US$ll million, making tourism the largest foreign exchange earner for the kingdom.
Talimoepeau says the number of visitors to Tonga was growing at a rate of six to 10 percent. Tonga has 600 rooms available, ranging from Nukualofa’s Dateline Hotel to excellent getaways on islets off Tongatapu, such as the Royal Sunset Island Resort to new, small resorts at Ha’apai. “Tonga’s most unique feature is the monarchy,” says Talimoepeau.
Samoa has been less bullish on tourism than the rest of Polynesia. American Samoa belongs to PATA but participated little in its conference. Western Samoa’s Tourism Minister, Tuilaepa Sailele Malielegaoi, confesses; “Two cyclones blew us out of a lackadaisical attitude towards tourism.” In 1994, 52,000 people travelled to Western Samoa, which boasts the Pacific’s most legendary hotel, Aggie
Grey’s, and romantic hideaways like Samoan Village Resorts. The minister announced a 400-room Marriott and a 36hole golf course will open near Faleolo Airport in 1997 and the Four Seasons and Inter-Continental chains propose opening properties. Casino gambling is also being spoken about in Apia. In addition to Faa Samoa, a relatively intact indigenous cul ture, the minister said Samoa’s attractions include the newly renovated “R.L.
Stevenson mansion, eco-tours, trekking, bird watching, rain forests, sailing, diving.
You name it, we’ve got it.” 1994 was French Polynesia’s best year yet, with a record 170,000 visitors, a 12 percent increase over 1993, earning the territory about US$24O million, up 20 per cent from 1993. According to Patrick Robson, Tahiti Tourisme’s Asian/Pacific regional manager, “Tourism is Tahiti’s number one revenue source .. .We have a 60-percent occupancy rate, with a total of 2500 rooms, including 600 international
Western Samoa’s legendary hotel, Aggie Greys, has recently undergone expansion and renovation