Bougainville to unveil new tourism website

National, Normal
Source:

The National, Friday October 18th, 2013

 BOUGAINVILLE’S  new tourism website will be online from Nov 7.

The website, www.bougainville.travel is the official tourism hub for the Autonomous Region of Bougainville. 

It will feature the many unique tourism products, such as tours, experiences, and accommodation, that Bougainville has to offer. 

Bougainville.travel is a joint-project initiated by the Tourism Office of the Autonomous Bougainville Government, the Central Bougainville Tourism Association, and the New Zealand organisation, Volunteer Service Abroad organisation (VSA). 

VSA volunteer Tom Brosnan said the need for a new and improved Bougainville.travel website was recognised when the old Bougainville tourism website became outdated, and updates were not possible. 

A workshop was then held in Arawa, Central Bougainville, earlier this year and involved local stakeholders planning the new website. 

“The workshop helped identify the types of tourism activities currently available in Bougainville, the potential markets, and the importance of having an online presence to promote tourism,” Brosnan said.

He said Bougainville.travel was a vast improvement on the previous the website. 

It used a simple content management system, which meant nontechnical users could will be able to easily update and modify the content.

He said Bougainville had massive potential as a tourism destination and the website would be a good tool for harnessing that.

“It can take advantage  of particularly following the recent international release of the movie Mr Pip, which was shot in Pidia village and stars Bougainville teenager Xzannjah Matsi in one of the leading characters of the movie. 

“Bougainville looks stunning in the movie,” Brosnan said.

“It’s a beautiful and rugged island with huge potential for tourism and people who are keen to find out more will be able to check out Bougainville.travel to plan a trip here.”