Weekly Update From Tourism Tonga 1
By Stuart Berry, General Manager, Tourism Tonga
It’s been one of those weeks hasn’t it! We have no control over nature and while the disruption to air travel both International and Domestic has been a real curse, there is nothing we can do about it and, at the end of the day, passenger safety is paramount.
I must congratulate AirNZ (the most affected of the services) who over three days put on enough extra flights with the larger Boeing 767 that the backlog was cleared quickly. Well done and I know Sue and her team at Kingdom Travel worked long hours rebooking passengers. Also the teams at Fiji Air, Virgin Australia and Real Tonga were also frantic dealing with the disruption but got everyone in and out eventually. At the airport last night I spoke to two Kiwis heading home after a one week holiday turned into a fortnight. Like most people affected, they really had no complaints and had actually enjoyed the enforced extra week.
The volcano will probably continue to disrupt travel plans but great to see everyone making the effort to work around this. We have added an information panel to our website for daily updates on flights, so that visitors can access up-to-date information.
I caught up with a TV Film Crew heading to Vava’u today to start filming an episode to be broadcast on Channel 4 in the UK later this year. They were heading to one of the outer islands to film an expat English couple - one of four families at various locations around the world. Well known English TV presenter Kevin McCloud (Grand Designs) is fronting the program. They were delighted with the aerial footage we were able to give them and I am sure the program will be good publicity for Tonga when it airs.
You asked for it – we deliver! We have had a few complaints about the order in which operators appear on the website www.tongaholday.com . Up until now it’s been alphabetic or the order in which they were originally loaded. All listings are now on random rotation so the order changes every time the website is opened. So your business may be top of this list on one occasion and somewhere further down the next.
Talking of websites, it is critical that you keep your operational seasons/hours updated. If you are shutting down for a period (‘off-season’, maintenance, holidays) you must put that on your own website and also let Tourism Tonga know. Today at the Visitor Information Centre, we had two very disappointed young men from Europe who booked a diving holiday on line (in advance before travelling here), flew to Tonga to find that not only was their booking (accommodation and Dive) not honoured but the business was shut for the ‘summer season’. The two men then paid for return flights to Vava’u and unfortunately of the three operators they contacted, one was closed and the others weren’t taking any tours.
Tourism Tonga is working hard to build the visitor numbers off-peak and share the visitors across the Kingdom but we will only be successful if businesses deliver on their services. The flow-on effect is that the two men cancelled their plans to stay in Vava’u and travelled back to Tongatapu. So please make it clear on your website (and give Mana the info to put on ours) if you are closed for any period of the year. Remember Northern hemisphere visitors are planning months in advance. It is really disappointing that we work hard to get visitors here who then go away with tales of a very bad experience.
Whilst Tourism Tonga won't have staff attending Pasifika, we are producing some flyers for the cultural performance team to take to this event in Auckland in March. The type of person who attend Pasifika are interested in culture, soft adventure and travel, so the flyer will promote those attractions/activities. And talking of culture, great to hear that Oholei Beach Resort have had excellent numbers at their feasts over the summer months…the cave show has been ‘rocking’. Well done Simana and team.
The Easter school holidays are in April so we have asked some of the more family-oriented operators to provide some deals we can promote to attract families into the Kingdom. Real Tonga have also offered us some great deals for businesses in the outer islands who are willing to package up an attractive offer. Send Fay the required information by Tuesday 27th January if you wish to be included. The offers will be promoted on-line.
There were a few errors in the Cruise Ship schedule for 2015. Attached is the latest version. In 2015 we have 61% more cruise ship visitors expected into Nuku'alofa, and over 100% more into Vava'u. We are assisting with plans to ensure these important visitors have a great experience in Tonga. Next Cruise ship is in Nukualofa next Friday 23rd. Silver Whisper has 650 passengers and crew. A week later on Monday Feb 2nd is the Amsterdam with 2,000 passengers and crew. 24th of February is going to be a huge day for Tongatapu with 1500 passengers and crew from Japan on Asuka II and the same day a return of QE II with 2000 passengers on board.
