South Pacific Tourism Organisation

CATCHING UP WITH SPTO following our previous conversation last year, the organisation has continued to take numerous strides in achieving its primary objective of bolstering the region’s tourism potential throughout the latter stages of 2018 and early 2019.

Having recently appointed a new Chair (David Vaeafe) and Deputy Chair (Felicity Bollen), alongside the launch of its new 2020-2024 Strategic Plan, the entity is now looking to enhance the region’s offerings to both leisure and business travellers.

Cocker, SPTO’s CEO, reveals all.

Asia Outlook (AsO): Since the last time we spoke, how has South Pacific Tourism Organisation developed and progressed in terms of its key objectives and the messages it tries to get across?

Christopher Cocker (CC): SPTO continues to provide services to member countries and private sector members as per our mandate. We’re focusing on building relationships and are extending our activities to non‐ traditional partners and donors as we seek to grow and market the tourism industry in the region.

With that in mind, the SPTO Board of Directors very recently endorsed a new Strategic Plan and Membership Prospectus, both of which have adopted the new organisation vision of ‘Our Pacific Islands’ that is empowered by and benefits from sustainable tourism. The 2020-2024 Strategic Plan has narrowed down the priorities of the organisation to three key areas – marketing the region, sustainable tourism planning, and research and statistics.

In addition, secondary priority areas like investment and product development, air access and route development, human resource development, and training and cruise ship development will be addressed via innovative partnerships led by the SPTO Executive Office.

Through this we hope to attract and build meaningful relationships with donors who share our vision of a prosperous, stable ‘Blue Pacific’.

AsO: How would you say the South Pacific in general has developed since then as a business travel hub and what are the key reasons behind its growing appeal?

CC: Although the Pacific mainly attracts leisure travellers, business travel is a growing market and one that we recognise as having potential. Several Pacific Island countries, including Fiji and led by PNG, continue to develop infrastructure in line with this, growing the region as not just a tourism hub but a crossroad for development in business and trade. The Pacific Islands are opening up as an emerging destination to the MICE market and we’ve seen this growth in the hosting of major events such as Asia‐Pacific Economic Cooperation (APEC) in PNG in 2018, 52nd Annual Meeting of the ADB Meeting in Fiji in 2019, and a visit by the UN Secretary General in Fiji.

“Arrivals from the key traditional markets of Australia and NZ continued to dominate the Pacific destinations with a 51 percent share in 2018”

AsO: Taking a more general industry stance, how would you evaluate the tourism sector in the region now compared to its condition in 2017?

CC: The continued growth in 2018 was supported by positive tourism performances from more than 56 percent of the Pacific Island countries including Fiji, Cook Islands, French Polynesia, Samoa, Vanuatu, Solomon Islands, American Samoa, Marshall Islands, Kiribati and Tuvalu.

Arrivals from the key traditional markets of Australia and NZ continued to dominate the Pacific destinations with a 51 percent share in 2018, while the Asian Economies of China, Japan, India and other Asian countries accounted for 17.7 percent, USA 10.5 percent, Europe 9.7 percent and Pacific Islands 7.2 percent.

Aligned to this positive outlook, total visitor arrivals are now forecast to grow by 5.1 percent to 3.3 million in 2019, largely owed to the inclusion of additional tourists from SPTO’s two new member countries – Rapa Nui and Wallis and Futuna.

We recently released the Visitors’ Arrival Report for Q4 2018, and it showed some interesting trends to watch in 2019. I don’t want to pre-empt anything, but I can say we are doing very well. Total visitors to Pacific Island countries was recorded at 804,770 for the three-month period, while the cruise ship industry continues to grow. We encourage this sector because it presents business and employment opportunities for a larger segment of our Pacific people.

AsO: What is in store for the South Pacific Tourism Organisation over the course of 2019 and beyond?

CC: Our year started with the successful launch of the 2019 China Pacific Tourism Year (CPTY) in Samoa in April. Prior to that some of our member countries had events and many more will follow until we close the CPTY in November. We look forward to collaborating with the Ministry of Culture and Tourism in key activities from June until closing to build a understanding of the Pacific tourism industry on the Chinese market, increase awareness of the Pacific in China and attract niche travellers from China into the Pacific.

We also received funding from the Korean government through the Pacific Promotion Programme for Trade, Investment & Tourism (PPTT). This will be used to promote trade, investment and tourism between Korea and Pacific Island countries in terms of job creation, economic development, trade fairs and market promotion.

During our board meeting in early May, we also signed a memorandum of understanding with the Pacific Aviation Safety Office (PASO). The agreement covers information sharing, coordination and cooperation, and strengthens the links between tourism and aviation, two sectors vital for economic growth throughout the Pacific.

With the newly approved strategic plan and donor membership prospectus, we hope to increase the development programmes implemented by SPTO for its members, diversify SPTO’s funding sources and increase innovative partnerships with development and corporate partners in the future.

AsO: Finally, looking forward, if we were to speak again another year down the line, what progress and development would you hope and expect to be able to report back?

CC: Our new Strategic Plan 20202024 sets a new direction for how we operate, wherein we are prioritising our outcomes, ensuring that the work and money invested into our activities will have a more favourable return.

This is aligned to and supports our stakeholder interests and we look forward to working with them in achieving new outcomes. We hope that through the Strategic Plan we will attract and secure new donors and development and corporate partners to collaborate with SPTO, to develop and promote tourism in the Pacific.