Voting For The Island

Palau Visitors Authority Managing Director Mary Ann Delemel hopes the program will prompt viewers to turn this experience from the vicarious to the real. The response has been immediate.

"The hits on the PVA Web site (www.visit-palau.com) during the week that each episode is airing reach nearly 2 million. There's a family that is staying currently at Palau Pacific Resort who decided to come to Palau after watching the first episode in February and PPR's operations manager has confirmed bookings from people in the States who have decided to visit as a result of watching 'Survivor'," Delemel says.

The bureau is strongly featuring Palau's link to "Survivor" on its Web site and it is integral to ongoing planned promotional work.

"We will continue to emphasize Palau as most stunning "Survivor" site yet in promo materials, use the "Survivor" logo where allowed by CBS, and promote programs that have been developed by local operators to sites where the "Survivor" challenges took place," Delemel says. "We are also working with our public relations representative to identify specific marketing actions to be conducted this year and next."

The cast of Survivor Palau. Photo: Courtesy CBS

She is hopeful the publicity will help the industry reach ecotourists, kayakers, wilderness explorers and those interested in Palau's cultural and historic past.

Filming "Survivor Palau" injected an estimated $4 to $5 million into the local economy including the hiring of some 600 crew, rentals on spaces, buildings, hotels, boats, materials and food. Last year 5 percent or 5,979 of visitors to Palau came from the U.S. mainland, a 39 percent increase over 2003 arrivals of 4,291.

Delemel expects further growth with the opening of a new 160 room first class hotel property later this year in the Malakal area of Koror. In fact, one of Palau's biggest tourism challenges is a lack of hotel rooms.

"We are optimistic that this year we will witness our 100,000th visitor, a projection of 12 to 13 percent increase over total arrivals in 2004," Delemel says.

Further south, Vanuatu was the venue for the ninth season of the "Survivor" series. Vanuatu National Tourism Office marketing manager, John Cvetko says it is difficult to link the exposure gained by "Survivor" to actual sales. "I'm not knocking it; I think it was fabulous it was here. I don't think "Survivor" has made any (direct) sales for Vanuatu, but it has made it easier to sell Vanuatu.

"The series has just finished in New Zealand, which is one of our traditional source markets, and it has helped to reinforce the Vanuatu name and brand there and in Australia," Cvetko says.

The organization is now applying what Cvetko calls "real sales techniques" in its key markets, and in particular, talking about the culture of Vanuatu.

"In Fiji, for example, cultural activities are often prefaced with the words, "this is what our ancestors did" but in Vanuatu that dance is here and now, that culture is still alive and vibrant," Cvetko says.

He is looking to attract the same type of travelers who go to Malaysia, Borneo, Cambodia and Bhutan. "They want to see cultural differences, and a lot of people in the New Zealand and Australian markets have stopped feeling that exists in the South Pacific."

These travelers are often young backpackers, a market once ignored in the region, but whom Cvetko says have an interest in learning about cultures, and seeing those cultures survive.

Survivor Host Jeff Probst. Photo: Courtesy CBS

"I think the South Pacific has been really narrow minded and this comes from the yield management practice. We want to segment every visitor as a sector of revenue generation," Cvetko says.

"Backpacking may bring less revenue per head, but that revenue goes directly to grassroots communities." Cvetko believes this can mean the difference between meaningful local involvement in the tourism industry, and having locals mainly working as waiters and waitresses in large resorts.

Meanwhile, other Pacific Island destinations are quite literally, getting into the act.

Australian children's television program, "Totally Wild" is broadcasting material from its assignment on Vanua Levu, Fiji late last year, the first in a series of eight reports to be seen by a young audience of more than 900,000.

The Tongan Visitors Bureau says Touchdown Productions Limited soon plans to film "Champions of Treasure Island" at 'Euakafa Island.

Acting Director and Head of Marketing at the Tongan Visitor's Bureau Sione Finau Moala-Mafi says "choosing Tonga as a venue amongst other South Pacific Island is an opportunity to provide further publicity and exposure of Tonga to our two major tourist markets of New Zealand and Australia".

In New Caledonia, filming is set to begin on the Isle of Pines for the French version of "Survivor," named "Koh Lanta."

Meanwhile, back in Palau, Mary Ann Delemel believes the "Survivor-effect" will flow on to other Micronesian destinations. "With Continental Micronesia providing the great majority of traffic into Palau from the U.S. and considering the distance from there to Micronesia, visitors will likely plan to visit other islands besides Palau. The recent boost in the Micronesia.com website is testimony to the impact that 'Survivor' has created not just for Palau but for other islands which is good, as we in the region promote Micronesia as one destination."