Samoa to reopen in August

Samoa’s tourism industry is gearing up to welcome its first tourists inmore than two years after the prime minister announced its borders would reopen.

Fiame Naomi Mata’afa said on Monday night Samoa would open to international travellers in August and September.

First, international flights would resume from May for Samoan citizens returning home and foreign contractors.

Samoa’s plan to reopen to the world would hinge on the country’s vaccination rates, removal of quarantine restrictions to facilitate quarantine-free travel and Fiji, Australia and New Zealand’s borders opening to Samoa, Mata’afa said. The Pacific nation has been closed to the rest of the world since March 2020 due to the pandemic.

Samoa Tourism Authority chief executive Dwayne Bentley said the industry was excited to get Samoa back on the radar as a tourism destination. He said STA had been busy during the border closure, working behind the scenes with local operators and national bodies to ensure they were ready to host tourists again.