Bookings begin to roll AGAIN

Evan Wasuka
The tourism industry in the Solomon Islands has been hailed the key to its future economic development, replacing the country’s main income earner—logging—which had risen to alarmingly unsustainable levels in recent years.

Tourism’s true potential is being seen as untapped—unlike its Melanesian neighbours of Vanuatu and Fiji.

The April 2 magnitude 8.1 earthquake and tsunami threw a spanner in the works by wreaking havoc in the Western Province, the Solomon Islands tourism heartland.

But the province and its tourism operators, the number one destination for Solomon Islands’ visitors, are staging a comeback.

Operators around the world-renown dive spots of Gizo and Munda, at the heart of the disaster zone, are making a quick recovery after suffering over S$4 million damage.

The head of the Solomon Islands Visitors Bureau, Michael Tokuru, says most operators were up and running—but not at full capacity.

Despite the devastation that cost the lives of 52 people and displaced over 6000 people, the tourism industry is ready to welcome back visitors.

Operators who rely on the Western Province’s clear blue sea and tranquil white sandy beaches as their main attraction suffered property and equipment damage totalling over S$3.1 million when the tsunami struck while S$650,000 worth of business was lost through booking cancellations.

Although the resorts and hotels were at the forefront of where the tsunami struck, the industry was spared the bad publicity of a tourist’s death.

Gizo Hotel, the largest hotel in the Western Province, lost its jetty in the tsunami and waves reached as far as its reception area, while some of its buildings suffered cracks.

Despite that, the hotel stayed in business throughout and became the main accommodation base for local and international relief workers and the global media.

Other hotels and motels suffered structural damage from the earthquake and waves as well equipment.

Danny Kennedy, owner of Adventure Sports Dive in Gizo, said damage incurred on his business was from sand and dirt brought up by the tsunami which affected its compressors and boats.

Despite the damage, most operators were eager to serve guests and get their business back to normal, said Tokuru.

“The quick recovery by the accommodation and dive operators in Gizo was greatly assisted by the resumption of flights by Solomon Airlines to Gizo.”

The recovery effort was aided by the authorities’ ability to restore electricity, telephones, mobile signals and internet connections immediately. Water supply, however, proved to be a difficult problem to solve.

The big operators were among the first to get back to business with Gizo Hotel and Agnes Lodge in Munda fully booked when the bureau conducted a survey several weeks after the tsunami.

Gizo Hotel paid out S$30,000 to staff to assist with their recovery efforts while the bureau estimates it could take up to two years for the situation to return to normal.

Initial calls by the Western operators for government’s help has not fallen on deaf ears with the finance ministry issuing exemptions on Goods Service Tax for all businesses affected.

Finance Minister Gordon Darcy Lilo, whose constituency includes most of the tourism operators, was hopeful the exemption would instill confidence in business owners to rebuild after the devastation.

In Honiara, the three major hotels—King Solomon Hotel, Mendana and Honiara Hotel—did not experience any booking cancellations. Instead they’ve reported an increase in bookings. For Western operators, they say government’s input is needed in the industry to return their operations back to normal.

The operators have asked the government to help by acting as a guarantor for soft loans from commercial banks to rebuild and reequip their businesses.

Their requests also include calls for a tax holiday on bed levies for affected businesses over a two-year period, as well as equal distribution of rehabilitation funds.

While the destruction of some popular dive spots affected business, the natural phenomenon created by the seismic activity such as the lifting of Ranonnga Island and surrounding coral reefs will no doubt be a source of attraction in the coming years, along with the discovery of a World War II wreck on an uplifted reef.