The Samoa Tourism Authority (STA) European office showcased the best of what “Beautiful Samoa” has to offer to the European markets by meeting 63,000 consumers, 73 travel trade partners and 40+ media, along with other South Pacific Islands and private sector partners.
In February, the STA European office teamed up with Tourism Fiji and Cook Island Tourism to bring the South Pacific to some 63,000 consumers who visited Fespo - Switzerland's largest consumer travel fair - over 4 days.
Back in the UK, the team took part in the 16th edition of Unite Pacific, an annual trade show aimed at product managers. The event took place in Central London. The STA team met with 40 tour operators to bring them up to speed with Samoa’s sustainable tourism product during a series of 1 to 1 appointments and a networking lunch.
“Beautiful Samoa” went on to Germany to exhibit at ITB Berlin, Europe’s largest travel trade show, which reopened for the first time since its cancellation in March 2020. The event took place from 07 to 09 March and was attended by 5500 exhibitors, 90,127 trade visitors, around 3,000 media and 333 travel bloggers from more than 161 countries - about 50% of previous years visitor numbers.The STA team shared a stand with the Turama Pacific Travel Group, Fiji Airways, Rosie Holidays and the Vanuatu Tourism Office. Over the 3-day event, STA Europe held 33 meetings with travel trade buyers and media writers from Germany, Switzerland, Austria, Denmark, Sweden, Italy, France, UK, Czech Republic, Lithuania and the Netherlands.
STA Europe finished its spring tour at Antor Meets the Media Spring in London on 29 March, meeting with over 40 leading travel writers, editors and influencers to encourage them to publish content about “Beautiful Samoa”, one of the original sustainable tourism destinations.
“Personal contact is crucial for tourism as a people’s business as, we, STA Europe witnessed during the positive response to Beautiful Samoa’s participation in these four leading events with the purpose of growing tourism to Samoa sustainably with leading international buyers and media.” enthused Alison Cryer MBE, Director STA Europe. "Consumers, trade and media all reported new trends of longer stays, looking for local cultural engagement and prioritising bucket list destinations."
