New director to promote and develop tourism

Duncan Wilson




The Executive Director of the American Samoa Visitors Bureau, David Vaeafe, is planning to significantly increase visitor numbers in the long-term, and provide jobs and vital revenue for the country.
In the first quarter of 2009, over 17,500 travellers arrived in American Samoa and four cruise ships carried an additional 9500 passengers and crew.
Vaeafe said there is ample room for improvement, although he remains cautious about attaching precise figures to his goals.
The nation's current accommodation capacity, the need to safeguard its culture and attractions, and limited statistical data, means that any specific predictions would be premature.
“There are currently about 200 hotel rooms on the island. The destination can’t cater for the hundreds of tourists, but with sound business and economic planning we can eventually increase that capacity. It’s not good creating the demand if the supply can’t meet that demand.
“American Samoa’s more obvious attractions include unspoiled islands and living culture. We want to ensure that further developments don’t harm the islands or its culture,” Vaeafe said.
He said there is little point in focusing on the niche, ‘high-end’ market of China and Japan as Fiji’s luxury resorts are attempting.
American Samoa’s tourism sector has neither the facilities nor the inclination to peddle that product.
The government established the American Samoa Visitors Bureau last year. The agency’s focus will be on developing tourism policy and marketing and promoting the destination.
Vaeafe, a former head of independent Samoa’s visitors bureau in New Zealand, was appointed in August.
“I’m excited to be taking on the role...we’re building the bureau from scratch,” he said.
“Our first step is to analyse the attractions and facilities on the island and how we can incorporate that into our unique tourism product. We’ll then consult with the private sector—the bureau and the tourism sector will work hand in hand throughout every step in this process.”
American Samoa’s tourism industry is not as developed as other Pacific destinations such as Fiji or the Cook Islands, Vaeafe said.
And travel agents’ scant knowledge of American Samoa means they tend to neglect the island in their Pacific promotions.
But the new executive director has faced these obstacles before. In 1996, he established the Samoa Visitors Bureau in New Zealand. At the time, New Zealand and Australian visitors to the Pacific favoured Fiji and the Cook Islands:
“Samoa was simply not on their radar. Travel agents and visitors thought there was only one hotel. The flights were not on time. From 1996 to 2004, I focused on educating the industry about Samoa and the island gained profile. The Samoa tourism authority went from nothing to become a highly competitive travel destination, alongside those two islands that had previously dominated the market.
“So again, there is that same level of ignorance about a destination. We’ll have to raise travel and tourism agents’ understanding about what is here and what American Samoa has to offer.”
For Vaeafe, American Samoa’s ecotourism and its infrastructure are two key points in the islands’ favour.
Vaeafe points to American Samoa’s national park, which stretches across four separate islands (Ta’u, Ofu/Olosega, and Tutuila) and is the only US national park south of the equator.
Visitors can stay in a Samoan fale, while enjoying the unique and abundant birdlife, more than 200 types of coral and 900 species of fish.
“Another key attraction for American Samoa is that visitors have to island-hop to get here and the destination has the ecotourism appeal of not being on the main route,” Vaeafe said.
“The islands—seven in total—have not been mass-marketed and we don’t have a hugely developed tourism sector.”
American Samoa also has sound infrastructure and a modern harbour in which cruise ships can berth.
This is especially important because Vaeafe sees the cruise ship industry as a key part of his industry’s long-term growth.
Currently, just a few cruise ships visit American Samoa each year, while more than 30 visit New Zealand. There is a “huge potential” to tap in that market over the long-term, Vaeafe said.
Despite working for independent Samoa’s tourism authority for several years, Vaeafe does not think his new role conflicts with other islands’ sectors.
He wants to encourage visitors going to other Pacific destinations  to tack on American Samoa at some point during their  trip. Vaeafe emphasises that from just US$60 one way, one can fly from Samoa to American Samoa, and he wants to encourage more visitors to do that.
In the short-term, he will focus on raising the profile of American Samoa among New Zealand,  Australian and the US West Coast tourism sectors, given travellers frequent holidays in the Pacific.
Then, there will be further tourism goals and industry expansion—though Vaeafe insists that despite his decades of experience, other islands countries need not be too concerned.