| VTO attends Auckland Flight Centre show |
 The Vanuatu Tourism Office, represented by the VTO rep in New Zealand, Ms Jacquie Carson, and its Senior Information Officer Ms. Brenda Andre, attended the Auckland Flight Centre trade show in New Zealand from 13th to 14th February. Vanuatu was present with other pacific islands, showcasing the destination with colorful displays and a great team of industry members from Air Vanuatu NZ, Poppy’s on the Lagoon & The Havannah, Le Lagon Resort, Mangoes Resort, Grand Hotel & Iririki Island Resort, and the Vanuatu Tourism Office. Other regional islands promoting their tourism products were Fiji, Cook Islands, New Caledonia, Tahiti, Solomon Islands and Niue.
The tradeshow took place in Auckland’s ASB showground, opening from 10am to 4 pm with the team from Flight Centre, onsite to book instant holidays for New Zealanders and other nationalities convinced to take a fiesta in the pacific islands. During the tradeshow, there were approximately 16,000 visitors who walked through the premises to discover the wide range of holiday options available in the south pacific, and since the trade fair coincided with the Chinese New Year festivals, which was scheduled on the same weekend and venue, this added to the busy traffic of visitors to the event. The Vanuatu booth ran on a roster to give all its delegates equal opportunity to meet and talk to all visitors enquiring at the booth. According to Ms Andre, the common questions asked during the tradeshow were what holiday activities & tours are available in Vanuatu, including the range of accommodations, what Air Vanuatu and Air New Zealand flight packages and specials are currently on offer, how long does it take to fly from Auckland to Port Vila, which became a pleasant surprise to many regarding the close proximity compared to other destinations, and when is the best time or season to travel to Vanuatu. Intentions to grab a holiday in Vanuatu was high especially amongst cruise visitors who recently cruised to Vanuatu, sampled Port Vila and the outer islands, and are now yearning to return and experience the destination. General feedback confirmed that there has been a number of bookings to Vanuatu, generated during the 2 days trade fair. |