Vanuatu Tourism Office ramps up global presence

Media Release 22 March 2010: Vanuatu Tourism Office is ramping up marketing activity in key source markets in the face of tough competition. A range of campaigns are being implemented in Australia, New Zealand and New Caledonia to increase Vanuatu’s global presence and combat competitor activity. Vanuatu Tourism Office general manager Annie Niatu says while 2010 will be a challenging year, positive growth is possible if significant marketing activity in undertaken in the major overseas markets.   “2009 was a successful year for the industry, visitors were up around 11% and for the first time ever Vanuatu hit 100,000 visitor arrivals. It is important to capitalize on this growth,“ said Annie Niatu, general manager of the Vanuatu Tourism Office. “Competitors like Fiji, who have suffered in 2009 are investing huge amounts into marketing which has proven a challenge in the start of 2010. Despite this, we are confident that positive growth can be maintained in 2010 with increased and highly targeted marketing efforts.”  In Australia, three campaigns specifically aiming to drive sales in the current low period with advertising in major metro newspapers are being run in partnership with key wholesalers, Air Vanuatu and the Vanuatu Tourism Office. 

With forward bookings presenting a challenge to many resorts, the Vanuatu Tourism Office and Air Vanuatu are partnering to run a major Flight Centre campaign in April. This will include press, online activity and television commercials. Further campaigns with Qantas Holidays and Pacific Specialist Holidays are planned to run before the end of May.  The Vanuatu Tourism Office has exhibited at six consumer shows in Australia already this year, reaching over 74,000 consumers interested in travelling in the near future. Vanuatu Tourism will also be exhibiting at the Travel Expo’s in Sydney, Melbourne and Brisbane over the coming months. As part of the ongoing effort to better educate travel agents and reservation staff to sell Vanuatu, an online travel agent training will be launched next month through Travel Weekly’s online Travel Academy training programme in Australia. This training programme will be supported with trade advertisements and an incentive for agents with the chance to win a monthly familiarization visit to Vanuatu.

In the New Zealand market, a two week television campaign has just concluded in conjunction with Air Vanuatu, Vanuatu Tourism Office and House of Travel. Throughout January and February, Vanuatu Tourism exhibited at a series of Flight Centre Expo’s in Christchurch, Wellington and Auckland. At present, Air New Zealand has a red hot airfare currently in the market place for Vanuatu and is implementing a series of online campaigns to promote this. Next month, the Vanuatu Tourism Office will have a strong presence at the NZ Roadshows in Auckland, Wellington and Christchurch aswell as a Wedding Show in Auckland. 

In New Caledonia, the Vanuatu Tourism Office recently exhibited at Noumea Tok Tok presenting to over 80 travel agents at daily seminars over a three day period. A strategy is underway for a highly targeted advertising campaign geared toward the next school holiday season in May.

In the US and North America region, VTO was busy Beneath the Sea dive expo, liaising with new dive operators keen to include Vanuatu in their worldwide offerings, making sales calls with Air Pacific representative in California to find  potential new sellers for Vanuatu, one high end wholesaler in particular who sells snorkel trips around the world with great potential for Vanuatu, and meeting new educational operators focusing on dive, snorkel and reef preservation.  An agent who travelled to Vanuatu with the US Group Agents famil in November last year confirmed a group booking for 2011 as a result of the visit.

The US representative is also pleased to announce that her working with the members of the Scuba Diving Hall of Fame has placed Allan Power as a nominee for induction into the organization, recognized as the “father” of the Coolidge.  VTO US is currently working with a journalist who is pitching a story for Islands Magazine, likely to feature the development of new properties, which continue to elevate Vanuatu to a higher level of accommodation range for the top end market to promote this end of the market possibly with an additional storyline on family or adventure travel.