Pacific Islands to Benefit from China-Pacific Tourism Year 2019

The Samoan Capital, Apia launched the '2019 Year of Tourism for China and Pacific Island Countries' with fireworks and cultural programs.

Fiame Naomi Mataafa, Samoa's Acting Prime Minister said the China-Pacific Tourism Year 2019 is a milestone achievement. Fiame said it offers a great opportunity for Pacific Island countries to showcase China what the Pacific Islands have to offer with their stunning natural landscapes, sandy beaches, unique culture and friendly people.

"China-Pacific Tourism Year 2019 reflects how we as leaders of the region have placed value on the thriving Asian outbound tourism markets, particularly China with the world's largest outbound market of around 140 million visitors last year," Fiame said the Pacific Islands region is still very much an untapped destination.

Christopher Cocker, the CEO of SPTO said the Pacific tourism industry is working on programs to be 'China Ready'. Cocker said the focus is to sustainably develop and promote the region to niche Chinese outbound market segments who want to experience the beautiful islands, unique cultures as well as the healthy and organic food experience. Papalii Sonja Hunter, the CEO of Samoa Tourism Authority said the launch of the tourism year marks an important chapter in Samoa's tourism calendar as it officially marks the country's categorization as a tourism destination for Chinese visitors.

The tourism industry believes there is a great potential for the tourism cooperation between China and the Pacific Island countries which attract a total of 2.1 million visitors each year, and an estimated 125,000 plus Chinese visitors visited the Pacific region.