Marketing Managers and Executives from Samoa and 15 other Pacific Island countries gathered at the Iririki Island Resort last week to attend the S.P.T.O.

Regional Marketing meeting to discuss and endorse the marketing plan that will serve as the direction for the region in 2018.

The meeting also saw the participation of key guest speakers from Trip Advisor, Cherry Yielding, Pacific Islands Trade & Invest (PTI Sydney) and Fiji Airways on collaborative initiatives engaged with S.P.T.O in 2017 and for 2018.

Now in its 5th year, the meeting is organized annually by S.P.T.O, the region’s peak tourism development and marketing body.

Born out as in initiative of Marketing Managers from the Pacific, the objective has been to provide a better platform for S.P.T.O. to synergize its regional marketing strategies and discuss important matters with its Marketing Managers/ Executives from its member countries.

Items on the agenda included highlights of S.P.T.O’s 2017 Marketing activities; Tourism trends for the Pacific; S.P.T.O’s proposed 2018 Marketing Plan; Digital Marketing for Exact Targeting; S.P.T.O and TripAdvisor’s marketing partnership; PTI Sydney’s support for regional tourism; and Fiji Airways partnership opportunities for 2018. 

Other highlights of the marketing meeting included the emphasis from S.P.T.O and member countries on the need to move from offline to online marketing and address opportunities in niche markets such as diving, fishing, medical tourism and emerging markets of China, South Korea, Japan and India. 

A major highlight from the meeting with the initiative to set up an S.P.T.O Research and Statistics sub-committee as members saw the importance of statistics and research in tourism marketing for the region and individual member needs.

It was agreed that the S.P.T.O would provide a Board paper at the next S.P.T.O Board meeting in Adelaide in April 2018 outlining a terms of reference and the nominees for this Sub Committee

The S.P.T.O regional marketing plan 2018 was presented to the Marketing Managers and endorsed at the meeting, before it was tabled and approved at the S.P.T.O Board meeting the next day.