STA brings tourism providers together to exchange ideas on industry recovery

Pago Pago, AMERICAN SAMOA — The high cost of airfares to Samoa, loss of employees and accommodation properties not 100 percent operational were some of the issues outlined during an industry conference between the tourism sector and the Samoa Tourism Authority.

STA Chief Executive Officer Pativaine Petaia-Tevita says Samoa's visitor arrivals have boosted the country's tourism sector recovery rate to 60 percent, however the sector has a long way to go.

The Samoa Observer reported the STA CEO admitted during the discussions with the industry representatives that more time is needed to boost the sector back to pre-COVID-19 pandemic levels.

The STA hosted the final day of the conference, as part of an initiative aimed at bringing together tourism operators to exchange data on issues they faced, especially their struggles due to the pandemic.

Tourism operators spoke of the challenges that they continue to face, since the country's international borders reopened in August last year. A similar meeting was held last week with Savai'i tourism operators.

Addressing industry representatives, Mrs. Tevita emphasized that the purpose of the meeting was for the operators and the STA to share and contribute by proposing probable solutions to the issues that the sector is now facing after the pandemic.

"Currently, the recovery in terms of visitors arrivals is up to 60 per cent in line with our projections during Covid," said the CEO.

"But we are hopeful that given the assistance that the Government is giving out now and with the way that the businesses are operating now, with the borders reopening and people starting to come in, we are hoping that the recovery will be much sooner than we had anticipated.

"The purpose is for our industry to come together and share. It was something that had not been done over the past three years, so the wish is to share and come up with solutions was very interesting, listening to the proposals and recommendations of the operators. 

"Things that we never thought of before. It's very encouraging for us S.T.A. because we sit in the office and we think that this is supposed to be done, but after hearing from the people who are directly involved with the businesses in the sector, it changes a whole lot of perceptions of this meet."

The STA is hoping that the 60 per cent recovery rate will be given a further boost before the end of the current fiscal year in June 2023.

As a way forward the STA will set up sub-committees for tourism marketing and tourism product, which are the two main issues in the sector so that they could all work together and take the sector closer to what they hope to achieve.

In a nutshell, one of the current issues faced by the industry is the tourism product, especially with the accommodation properties, which are not 100 per cent in full operation according to the CEO.

The second main challenge discussed between the STA and the operators is the roll-out of the Government's second stimulus package – due to new requirements that are in place for acquiring or obtaining business licenses, which is further delaying the roll-out process.

Some operators have voiced concerns that they are finding it very difficult to get their business licenses, as one of the main eligibility criteria for the Government's stimulus package is for all businesses to have current business licenses.

The third main issue, which is common across the board is the loss of employees, especially to the seasonal workers scheme which has also been raised and discussed in the Parliament and at the Cabinet level.

The tourism operators also expressed concerns at the high cost of airfares for most visitors keen on visiting on Samoa, which they said is not contributing to the sectors' overall recovery goals.

"Although there are many incoming flights bringing tourists into the country, the tourism sector believes that the airfares not only for tourists but also for local citizens and business people are quite expensive," Mrs. Tevita said.

"The main reason is because there is only one local airline operating flights and there's no competition. Fiji Airways has been of help but it is not enough. In other countries where they have their own aircrafts, the airfares are much cheaper."

Since the COVID-19 pandemic hit, the Samoa Government stepped in to assist the tourism industry revive operations through a SAT$1 million grant.