Retail agents can have the opportunity to discover the island nation of Samoa and its abundance of activities and experiences first-hand as the Samoa Tourism Authority (STA) announces the recommencement of its trade famil program for 2023.
The program is part of Samoa Tourism’s trade re-engagement efforts and aims to boost awareness amongst frontline retailers and position Samoa as a unique holiday destination.
Accompanied by Samoa Tourism’s local staff, the agents will receive a full guided tour of the two main islands which includes hotel/property inspections and attraction site visits. The program highlights the importance of selling from experience as well as enabling the participating agents to sell Samoa with confidence.
So far, agents from from Australia’s Ignite Travel, Flight Centre, Omniche Holidays, Island Escapes and Entire Travel have experienced all Samoa has to offer with the program.
The Authority’s planned trade famils from New Zealand have been postponed due to disruptions caused by the January floods, followed by cyclone Gabrielle.
Although visitor numbers have not yet reached pre-pandemic levels, recently released tourism data reveal a steady flow of travellers since Samoa’s borders reopened in August last year. It shows the number of visitors for the August – December 2022 period sits around 47,000 people — over half that of pre-pandemic visitors recorded in 2019.
A spokesperson for the Samoa Tourism Authority said “We’re excited to welcome international visitors back to Samoa and are confident we will continue to see those numbers rise quickly over the next 12 months. According to our most recent reporting, we are tracking well against our projections per our recovery plan.”
Qantas and Fiji Airways currently operate flights to Samoa from Australia, while Virgin Australia is set to join in March. Air New Zealand operates daily direct flights from New Zealand while Fiji Airways operates connecting flights via Nadi.
You can read more about Samoa in our How to Sell Samoa feature.
