Update from Tourism Tonga Featured
25 March, 2015
Afternoon to you all.
Hope the visitor numbers are holding steady for you all. I know things are very quiet in the outer islands and we are trying to secure some marketing campaign funds to push the business your way. I do want to raise an issue that has been doing the rounds for the past month – that Tourism Tonga has got millions of dollars from the NZ government. That is NOT the case.
While there is still a very large sum of money still on hold waiting for a decision from NZ, the only extra TNZTP money that has been TENTATIVELY proposed at this stage is funding for the new visitor centres and directional signage at Vava’u and Ha’apai. So contrary to popular belief, Tourism Tonga is not rolling in money and indeed far from it!
In the meantime we are continuing with our planned autumn campaigns with Wholesalers in NZ and Australia and although the increase over January and February wasn’t as dramatic as earlier in the year, the numbers are still climbing. A 3% increase in numbers in Feb is not as much as we want and it is coming from a low base but we are working hard to get the visitors flowing. Feature articles in magazines have appeared in diving, fishing, surfing and adventure magazines in the past two months and we have bought advertising space to back that up. We have a comprehensive PR/marketing campaign for the next two months which is focussed on bringing visitors into Tonga over April May.
We have journalists from a number of other magazines arriving over the next month including a feature writer for Air NZ Kiaora magazine.
A reminder to operators in Ha’apai and Vavau to pick up your brochures and copies of the official Visitor Guide. I was in Ha’apai on the weekend and there are still plenty of guides at the Ministry of Commerce Tourism and Labour offices and plenty of operator brochures.
Owen and I are looking at options for the Visitor Centre in Ha’apai and we also met with a builder last friday to talk about options. At the same time we will be tackling the issue of signage and we have taken a lot of information away with us so we can build up a good signage plan. Our expectations are that the new Visitor Information Centres and signs in both Vava’u and Ha’apai will be completed by end of June.
Marketing Manager Fay has just returned from helping the cruise ship team at the Miami Seatrade.
Sea Trade is the key event of the year for developing cruise ship numbers. We joined six other Pacific countries at a South Pacific Cruise Alliance stand - Samoa, American Samoa, Fiji, New Caledonia, Cook Islands and Tahiti - with the objective of growing ship and passenger numbers to this region. Cruising is growing significantly worldwide, and is moving towards a much younger demographic. The trends are towards shorter duration cruises, and more exotic, undiscovered island destinations. This creates great opportunities for Ha’apai, Vava'u and even the Niuas. Fay has also completed our marketing strategy for the coming year. A bold document with some fresh ideas to help grow tourism into the future
You will all be aware that Real Tonga are currently operating with a two aircraft fleet which makes it tricky when there are breakdowns. The good news is a second J32 Jetstream is on its way and just completing its final maintenance in NZ before delivery. Having two aircraft of same make and model with be a bonus for the RT team and it was announced today that RT will also be introducing regional flights between Fiji, Samoa and Tonga later this year. Matangi Tonga reported this morning that the Government of Tonga was in talks with Fiji Airways to provide direct international flights to Vava’u but nothing had been confirmed at this stage. Exciting times ahead and gives great hope for the operators at Vava’u and Ha’apai.
I met with airline execs overseas a couple of weeks ago (when I was on holiday) and it was really good to hear that the forward bookings are really strong with only a couple of ‘soft patches’ in May and August. Business is looking very promising around the Coronation and into the winter season so that looks very good.
Finally this week it is great to see the strong following from overseas of the Facebook page. The interest for the visitor attractions seems to get great following and social media is a great tool for marketing. Mana is working on the website as well and the events page is slowly growing. Make sure you check to ensure your listing is up to day and current. www.tongaholiday.com
Have a great weekend, a brilliant Easter and rest assured Tourism Tonga are working hard to get business booming.
Yours in Tourism
Stuart
Stuart Perry
General Manager
Tourism Tonga
(Tonga Tourism Authority)
00676 781 9830
www.tongaholiday.com
