Introducing south-pacific.travel's Pacific Pulse
Welcome to the new-look south-pacific.travel e-newsletter. We took on the new organisation name south-pacific.travel because we have made a conscious decision not to diminish our wonderful brand “South Pacific” by abbreviating it. The dot.travel is to emphasise that the virtual world is the future of Tourism marketing and development. We have selected a visual strip of 3 images to support the new look. The images emphasise our warm, hospitable people and diverse cultures. “No more sand, sea, and coconut trees cried our stakeholders – that could be anywhere!”. Distribution of the “newsletter” itself has been growing rapidly. Including the Chinese and Japanese versions, the “newsletter” is now eagerly read by over 2000 professionals worldwide. We feel therefore it is time for the “newsletter” to get a real name – so welcome to south-pacific.travel’s Pacific Pulse. Through it - you and your business contacts can keep your finger on the Pulse of Tourism in our region.

Cook Islands Tourism Conference
Cook Islands Tourism Corporation organised a very successful industry conference in Rarotonga. Well attended by industry, special evening guests speakers focussed on important topics such as latest developments in the US market and an introduction to the Japanese market and expectations. Regional tourism was another theme with a guest speaker from Tahiti urging greater cooperation between the two Polynesian destinations, and south-pacific.travel's Chief Executive Tony Everitt making a presentation on tourism trends and issues in the region. (Picture: south-pacific.travel, and newly apointment Cook Islands Tourism Corporation, Board Director Robert Skews shares some thoughts about Japan as a possible emerging market for the Cook Islands. Robert will participate in south-pacific.travel's Japan Starter Pack this April).

Vanuatu Tourism Website is Proving Popular
More and more people are logging onto vanuatutourism.com compared to the past years according to a Vanuatu Tourism Website report. The rise in traffic flow and number of hits shows a promising future for the site as the main visitor driver for Vanuatu. According to the report, the total number of pages viewed jumped from 4,650,452 in 2006 to 5,615,316 in 2007 which is an 18 percent increase. Average hits per day throughout the website recorded a 42 percent increase with 71,186.15 hits per day in 2007 compared to 49,902.77 hits per day in 2006. Google drives half of the Top 10 referrals and 60 percent of the Top 10 Search Engines to Vanuatutourism.com. Vanuatutourism.com is the first on the Search Engines when you search for ‘vanuatu’ and the top 3 keywords that drove traffic to the site were ‘vanuatu’, ‘tanna’, and ‘tourism’. (Source: Vanuatu Tourism Website Report Summary)

Cruise Calls Swell (Fiji)
There has been a significant increase in the number of international cruise ships visiting ports in Fiji, says Fiji Visitors Bureau chairman, Patrick Wong. Mr Wong said the trend had been evident since 2003. Total foreign earnings from the segment were estimated at $F11million, he said. In 2006, 78 cruise ships visited an increase of 160 per cent. Suva was the most called port but the Yasawa Islands were an increasing popular destination. Mr Wong said there was potential to develop Suva and Yasawa-i-Rara as major cruise stop overs for liners on Pacific voyages. There was a need to develop a co-ordinated approach to increase the number of calls and passenger arrivals to increase revenue from passenger expenditure and strengthen intersectoral linkages the supply of goods and services locally. Encourage regional cruise tourism through suitable infrastructures with accurate hydrographic survey of preferred anchorage locations, moorings and landing pontoons, Mr Wong said. Cruises ranged from day rips to the islands to overnight cruises around the islands. Day cruising and inter-island cruising were considered among the most popular products in Fiji and could encourage small eco-tourism and community-based tourism into the outer islands, he said. Day cruise destination provides local economic benefits to communities that otherwise see no revenue from tourism. Earlier, south-pacific.travel urged tourism industry stakeholders in the Pacific Islands to take full advantage of a global boom in cruise ship operations with over 550 vessels expected to grace island destinations this year. “People want interesting things to do after days at sea, so ports of call need to ensure a variety of creative shore excursions”, said south-pacific.travel chief executive, Tony Everitt. (Source: Fiji Times 16 January 2008)

China's Biggest Outbound Tour Operator Makes 8-Day Tahiti Visit
Two top officials of Beijing UTS International Travel Service, China's biggest outbound tourist market tour operator, spent eight days visiting Tahiti and Her Islands on a familiarization trip. Ms. Lin Yan, UTS vice general manager, and Ms. Song Dandan from the UTS Islands Tour Department were joined by Ms. Xiao Dan Danielle, tourism development manager for the Pacific Islands Forum Trade Office, a south-pacific.travel-appointed marketing partner for China. During the past year, four Chinese tour operators have visited Tahiti and Her Islands. For more information, click here. (Source: Tahitipresse 11 January 2008)

south-pacific.travel welcomes intern student
south-pacific.travel welcomes Ms. Christine Pijpers for a 6 month internship with the organisation. Christine is from the Netherlands and is a third year student at the NHTV University of Applied Science in Breda, Netherlands. She is pursuing a degree on International Tourism Management and Consultancy. Christine will be assisting the ICT and Planning team with research and e-marketing during her internship with the organization; she will also be working with the rest of the south-pacific.travel team to learn more about how the different teams work. Christine says she is really enjoying Fiji and has traveled a bit around the country experiencing the culture, climate and nature before starting her internship at south-pacific.travel.

south-pacific.travel membership update
south-pacific.travel welcomes two new private sector members.
1. Polynesian Xplorer is a Samoan Travel Specialist, based in Apia, Samoa with matured and experience staff that are very capable and fully committed in exceeding all customers’ expectations. Their services includes  hotel bookings, airline reservations, inter-island travel, car rentals and  tours, transfers, weddings, homestays, beach fale stays, diving, kayaking, game fishing, or group tailor-made travel plans, travel insurance, school groups, etc.  For more information, visit their website: www.polynesianxplorer.com 
2.  Palm Grove in the Cook Islands is a 3-star accommodation that offers 25 individual bungalows scattered over almost 5 acres of landscaped beachfront and garden property, set in the quite, enchanting area of Vaima. All bungalows have full kitchen facilities and private patios.  Visit their website:  www.palmgrove.net for more information.
Contact our Private Sector Membership Manager on e-mail rdrekeni@south-pacific.travel for more information on south-pacific.travel’s private sector membership programme and its associated benefits.

Orion Receives Gifts of Thanks from Remote PNG Village
On Orion's final visit for the year to Watam Village, situated near the mouth of the legendary Sepik River in Papua New Guinea, the “council of chiefs” representing all the village clans surprised Orion crew and guests with a totally unexpected speech and presentation. Orion's Expedition Cruise Program Coordinator Justin Friend tells us in this presentation the chiefs expressed their absolute delight as to how much Orion's visits have changed their lives in a positive way. Whilst they acknowledged the financial payments and the opportunities to sell their artifacts, they were particularly thankful for all the donations from Orion and her guests noting that the aid post and school virtually survive on donation deliveries alone. In return the community wanted to express their gratitude, responding by presenting gifts for Orion management team and staff. Every family in the community “donated” something to Orion. Significantly, Orion was also presented with a sacred ancestral spirit figure for the office in Sydney. In traditional folk lore the carving is an actual deceased ancestor’s spirit so this is an important piece. Entrusting the care of this spirit figure signifies the bond between Orion and the people of Watam. (Source: Orion Expedition Cruises Press Release 10 January 2008)

Tahiti, Moorea, Raiatea, Bora Bora Due to Join 21st Century Internet World in 2010
Eighty-three percent of French Polynesia's population will have potential access to the 21st Century world of the Internet in 2010 with a broadband connection estimated at "over 100" times faster than now. This will be possible thanks to a high-speed fiber optic underwater cable that Alcatel-Lucent plans to install linking Tahiti to Hawaii at an installation cost of some nine billion French Pacific francs (US$114 million/€75.4 million). A project that has been talked about on and off for the past several years finally became official with last week's signing of a contract between the French Polynesia Office des Postes et Télécommunications (OPT) and Alcatel-Lucent. "This small thingamajig costs nine billion F CFP," OPT Board Chairman Jean-Paul Barral said with a smile as he held up a piece of fiber optic cable that Alcatel-Lucent officials had given him a few minutes before the contract signing. Barral described the contract as "one of the most important projects of the decade". The cable has been given the Tahitian name of "Honotua", which means the link towards the open sea. The contract was signed at the beginning of the 10th year of Internet connection via satellite for French Polynesia's service provider, Mana, an OPT subsidiary. French Polynesia's first underwater Internet cable will create a network that also will "help reduce the digital divide in the Pacific region", according to an Alcatel-Lucent press release. The underwater network "will greatly increase French Polynesia's local and international connectivity. Accordingly, OPT will be able to respond at more affordable costs to the growing demand for broadband services of its business and residential users." For more information, click here. (Source: Tahitipresse 14 January 2008)