High Tide
Who Are The Innovators?
Regional Tourism's Leaders
It was a great pleasure compiling this issue’s “Tourism 10” feature, as it was an opportunity for Pacific Magazine’s editorial team to reflect on some of our most inspiring and surprising travel experiences over the years. Recently, we had our annual retreat in American Samoa, and our team had the good fortune to visit “Loto’s Soifuaga Samoan Village,” a modest but imaginative enterprise that left us all thinking, “why can’t we have more of this sort of thing” in the rest of the region.
The South Pacific Tourism Organization’s most recent figures put tourism as a percentage of GDP at between 2.9 percent in the Solomon Islands to 47 percent in Cook Islands. Tourism as a percentage of employment ranges between 1.6 percent in the Solomons to 10 percent in Samoa. Add to this figures from Guam and the Commonwealth of Northern Marianas with visitor arrival expectations of 1.3 million and 412,500 this year, and the importance of tourism to most, if not all Pacific Island economies is clear.
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major destinations are perceived as one dimensional with a focus on accommodation and resorts rather than cultural opportunities or tours.”
It says there is scope for diversification in this respect, and that “this could
include culinary experiences, additional bird watching or village stay, or developing...unique experiences that involve indigenous people.”
This is precisely the sort of thing that the tourism innovators featured in this
issue are doing. They are operating businesses that are setting the pace across the region. Some of them are relatively new such as Pohnpei Surf Camp and Fare Ie in Huahine, French Polynesia, where the founders have looked at best practice in other parts of the world, and adapted to local conditions. Others like Yap Divers and Sam’s Tours are long established and well recognized leaders.
We tried hard to include an example from Guam, the region’s largest tourism market. While it is among the region’s leaders in providing high-end accommodation and is perhaps the only true mass market destination on the weight of visitor arrivals, there is still a lot of room for innovation, particularly if you want a day off from the beach or shopping. And of all the Pacific locations, Guam is on the verge of huge opportunity with the military buildup on the island, and the number of new residents and their families this will bring.
If there is one other message that emerges from this feature, it is also that “small can be beautiful.” Yes, we need hotel rooms, infrastructure and transport links to get visitors here, and that requires certain economies of scale. But for the benefits of tourism to be more broadly felt throughout the community, and for this sector to develop on the terms of individual Pacific Islanders and landholders—not just international hotel chains—small enterprise based on what Pacific Islanders know best, their culture and their environment, is the key. Our governments should be doing all they can to support this sort of initiative.
