Just as American Samoa has said it is expecting a surge in cruise ship visitors next year, many of the islands of the South Pacific can expect bigger numbers to arrive on their shores via the sea.
Vanuatu, Fiji, Samoa the Cook Islands and French Polynesia are expecting to see a steady increase in numbers of cruise ship visitors as is Auckland, according to their respective tourism authorities.
This is mainly because the cruise industry has reinvented itself in recent years. There are now more vessels, there is a preponderance of smaller vessels with the same luxury trappings of the biggest ones and greater volumes have driven prices down enough for greater numbers of tourists to be able to afford them and there are more alluring package options.
Increased cruise arrival numbers are not necessarily good news for the hotels and resorts industry because they don’t translate into room nights, though they are excellent for the retail sector, especially around the port area. It will be a while before the trend in Europe, where cruise lines tie up with local hotels for on-shore nights will take off in the Pacific.
But as the world comes out of the financial crisis, long haul tourists opting for local cruises around the islands will also see an increase next year. Worries over the new UK tax on long distance travel and the continuing crisis in the Eurozone are unlikely to have an appreciable impact on tourism in the region.
The biggest rises will come from China, as the government has included more South Pacific destinations into its approved list of countries. This year also saw a rise in the number of US based airlines wanting to fly into the region. This reflects the US’ newfound interest in the region and will drive more US traffic particularly in the US-affiliated territories as well as Fiji and New Zealand.
A routing connecting the US west coast and Auckland with a stopover in Pago Pago in Western Samoa has already been announced for next year. This gives direct access to Pago Pago from Auckland, avoiding a changeover at Apia to fly there in a small aircraft – which has been a major deterrent for many tourists. American West Jet is the said airline that proposes to launch the service.
