Cabinet has approved the participation by the Samoa Tourism Authority’s Marketing Manager, Mr. Dwayne Bentley, of the Pacific Asia Travel Association (PATA) Travel Mart to be held in Hangzhou, China from 22-23 September, 2009.  Samoa has become a member of PATA, and this is the first time Samoa has participated in this event.

During the Mart, meetings with and presentations to potential buyers/tour operators from Asia, including China, America and Europe will take place to highlight key aspects of Samoa’s holiday products and services as well as discuss the possibility of including these in the distribution channels of the various tour operators.

Participation at PATA Travel Mart is part of the STA’s efforts to educate the travel trade and raise awareness about Samoa, especially in the People’s Republic of China where Samoa has been granted Approved Destination Status (ADS) by the Chinese government.

Cabinet has approved the participation of a representative from Samoa to the Fourth Participants Meeting of “Shanghai World Expo 2010,” from 23^rd -24^th September, 2009 at Shanghai, China.

The meeting is to brief the international participants on the latest progress of the preparation of Expo 2010 and answer all questions related to participation.

Samoa’s representative, Samoa Tourism Authority Chief Executive Officer, Matatamalii Sonja Hunter, will join other participants from 192 countries and 48 international organizations in a visit to the Expo site during the meeting.

SOURCE: Government Press Secretariat

The Tanoa Hotel Group has suffered a major loss today in Samoa. The Tanoa Tusitala Hotel, Apia caught fire early this morning and has endured a great amount of damage including irreparable damage to the magnificent historical fales. These fales had only just been completely refurbished with enormous effort and costs and stood as a majestic icon to the identity of the soon to be Tanoa Tusitala Hotel.

This is devastating for everyone in the Group, not least the Chairman and company founder, Mr. YP Reddy, who is based on site and helplessly witnessed the tragedy unfold of his dream project go up in smoke.

The cause of the fire is still unknown and an investigation is now underway. The fire started at around 10.00 this morning and lasted over 3 hours. Strong winds and warm weather only served to intensify the fire, negating the efforts of the local fire department.

As he regrouped his staff and contractors, Mr. Reddy said “today’s loss is extremely difficult to comprehend and explain. I had put my personal attention and determination in bringing back the Tusitala to its renewed glory”. Mr. Reddy added that it will take him some time to come to terms with this loss and will announce his strategy for the hotel project soon.

Talofa Lava

We would like to thank all involved for the wonderful Teuila Festival 2009.

My husband and I, our 2 boys (6 and 9 years), and 2 friends have recently returned from an unforgettable 3 week holiday in Samoa.

While we enjoyed all our activities in Samoa, a highlight of our trip was the Teuila Festival.

We experienced as much as we could: wood carving, tattooing, traditional cooking demonstrations, fautasi races, traditional singing and dancing, the variety nights (love that dance group 685!), knife dancing, rugby parade, Miss Samoa float and of course, the Miss Samoa pageant.

We loved it all!

We were overwhelmed by the friendliness and humour of the Samoans we met.

In particular, we would like to thank the festival staff, who so often led us to good seats so that we could fully appreciate the shows.

We are already saving so we can return to Samoa as soon as we can!

Kind regards

Annette, Tim, Matthew and David Rannard

Sydney, Australia