Can Tourism Survive In American Samoa?

Meanwhile, in American Samoa, local investors have begun a nascent revival of the territory's long moribund visitor industry.

The Haleck Group put up the Clarion Tradewinds Hotel, a 104-room property that finally gave the territory a high quality, full-service hotel that caters to business and government travelers.

Isabel and Dean Hudson, Owners of Le Falepule. [Photo: Nafanua Video and Still Photos]

Boutique properties, such as the acclaimed Le Falepule Lodge, owned and managed by Dean and Isabel Steffany-Hudson, offer tropical beauty and outstanding meals and personal service. The Hudsons are also moving forward on developing a more remote inn on Tutuila "for those who really want to get away from it all," explains Isabel Steffany-Hudson.

And long-time Pago Pago entrepreneur Tom Drabble put the polish on the Sadie Thompson Inn, a popular small, in-town hotel, and is converting a part of the government-owned Rainmaker Hotel into a new resort called Sadie's By The Sea.

But even as local investors begin shoring up the territory's hotel plant, there remain significant obstacles to making tourism a viable industry in American Samoa. The biggest challenge, many say, is the lack of interest by many American Samoans in tourism.

"In terms of developing a local tourism industry, my first recommendation would be to change the community's attitudes toward tourists," said Isabel Steffany-Hudson, the co-owner of Le Falepule. "As a community, we are criticized all the time for a lack of pride in keeping our islands clean. The litter all over the place just turns everybody off. There doesn't seem to be any local respect for the tourists who do come here. So, I would start with the people's attitudes first."

"Everybody recognizes and understands tourism's potential for the territory, but the question remains, which should come first, the infrastructure or the tourists?" observes ANZ Bank's Apia-based Head of Credit-American Samoa Unni Kesavan.

ANZ Amerika Samoa Bank President and CEO Gary Ayre believes, "infrastructure development should top the list of what needs to be done first, followed by developing an answer to the question, what can tourists do in American Samoa?"

"All parties interested in tourism, including government, must formulate a (tourism development) plan, stick to the plan and pay for the plan. Other than providing room and board, the private sector can't really be expected to carry the cost of developing the necessary infrastructure," Ayre says. "Then there is the problem of air transportation--no one in the territory denies the need for better and frequent air transportation. Otherwise, how would the tourists come here?"

That point is echoed by Vince Haleck, vice president of The Haleck Group. "The Hyatts and the Marriotts of the world are not lining up to build hotels in American Samoa. Why? Because we are out of the mainstream of the flow of traffic. So, we don't have a tourist industry to speak of at this time."