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SOUTH.pacific.travel chief executive Tony Everitt
believes the time is now right for the Pacific to take
advantage of the booming global cruise business.
He and his team from south-pacific.travel have put together
a strategy known as South Pacific Cruise Ship Strategy that
he hopes will see the Pacific grab a little bit more share
of the multi-billion industry.
At present, the region gets less than two percent share of
the global cruise tourism sector.
Knowing it will be tough to implement the strategy, Everitt
is optimistic it is the way forward for the region’s tourism
industry.
Despite the increasing fuel price which is hurting the
tourism industry and the real estate problems in the USA,
United Kingdom and New Zealand-where most of our tourists
come from-the cruise business is still booming, he says.
“It’s a little over 60 years since the end of the war that
has become a legendary part of the Pacific history. Children
of those servicemen from Japan, America, Australasia and
Europe are now retiring.
“They are kids who grew up in the golden ages-1950s and 60s
in USA and Australasia, 70s and 80s in Japan.
“They are real estate executives and their kids have
graduated from college. They are retiring, they have the
time and money and they want to see the world from the
luxury of a ship,” Everitt says.
According to him, global cruise passengers have increased
from less than 4 million in 1990 to over 11 million in 2005,
and there would be an increase of 34 percent in capacity
next year with ships currently under construction.
“The new mega-liners carrying 4000 passengers being
unleashed into the Caribbean mean that many of the smaller
ships will need to be redeployed. And what better place to
be redeployed than the South Pacific,” he says.
There are four beacons of the strategic plan but there is no
timeline set for their implementation.
“We are working on it now and we have not set a time period,
but it is going to take a few years,” Everitt says.
Beacon I aims to improve shore excursions for tourists from
cruise ships.
“This is important since we need to create a variety of
professional and fully insured shore excursions. We need to
improve on hospitality, safety and security issues because
cruise passengers are mostly elderly persons who have
retired. They don’t just want to come in and hop on a bus.
They would want to interact with the people,” Everitt says.
Beacon I also stresses quality shopping, high level guiding
and developing community level products.
Beacon II focuses on improving navigational charts, having
accurate hydrographic charts and investing in landing
infrastructure.
While Beacon III emphasises management-improving and
encouraging private partnerships and regional cooperation.
“In aviation, people just fly to one South Pacific
destination and fly back, in cruises people can actually
visit several destinations.
“Passengers don’t want to be at sea for days and days, so it
is logical for islands to work together,” Everitt says.
Beacon IV is on marketing-having cruise zones by
“parcelling” islands together, having comprehensive
information and promoting the South Pacific region.
“There can be six sub-regions and it would be logical to
have Fiji, Tonga and Samoa as one zone.
“We need to be more pro-active, we need to go out to them.
‘Everyone needs to be involved, every country should and
south-pacific.travel is volunteering to lead the strategy.
With 557 cruise visits to the South Pacific in the 2007-2008
period (source: South-Pacific.Travel) spending an estimated
US$30 million, Everitt believes it is a good base but there
are opportunities to get even more.
The three countries standing out in attracting cruise ships
are French Polynesia, Vanuatu and Kiribati. Cook Islands and
Fiji are closely behind.
French Polynesia accounted for 257 of the total cruise
visits, while Vanuatu had 96 and Kiribati 49 visits.
Passenger spending is estimated to be close to US$33million.
According to the South Pacific Cruise Shipping Development
Strategy, the major constraints to attracting more cruise
ships to the region would be competition from other Asian
destinations, availability of bunker fuel, and high port
pricing.
The region, however, would not have any problems with the
friendliness of the workers, as a survey conducted among
cruise liners found.
There were low ratings for safety/medical facilities and
port cleanliness, ground handling quality and access to
provisions and cruise related infrastructure.
“Cook Islands, Samoa, Tonga and the Solomons are in their
own category. These are the typical South Sea islands that
have minimal sights and shopping is local shopping and not
for the international traveller.
“Fiji, New Caledonia, Vanuatu and French Polynesia have the
infrastructure and the sights to see. The ground-handling
services are also fine and there are plenty of restaurants
and shops.
“Fiji has political problems which raises the question of
safety of passengers.
“Papua New Guinea has some very interesting sights but
facilities are basic and there is a problem with safety.
“Kiribati, Nauru, Niue and Tuvalu are untouched by tourism
and there is a need for all services to be improved,” one of
those questioned in the survey said.
Most of the other comments were on the product while one
said that of all the 13 member countries of
south-pacific-travel, French Polynesia was the only mature
destination offering excellent brand awareness though Fiji
is more interesting, has excellent marketing appeal and good
berthing facilities.
Another noted that South Pacific products “generally deliver
very well because of the warmth and friendliness of the
local population”.
But one warned that South Pacific cruises were very
difficult to sell to repeat passengers. One American
itinerary planner said each destination was the same for
Americans- beaches, palm trees, thatched roofs, the
hula-only a different flag flying and Americans don’t know
the difference between them.
Cruise lines that have never visited the Pacific say
geographic distance and lack of attractions were their
reasons of not coming over......
Article from Islands Business Magazine, February Issue,
website: http://www.islandsbusiness.com
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