Trip for family and island life

By Anina Kazaz 07 July 2018, 12:00AM

Interest and blood ties brought Australian couple, Bec Stuart and Sean Atiifale to Samoa.  

They have different reasons for visiting the islands. 

While Sean, who is half Samoan, visits often to see his family, for Bec it’s purely her interest in the island life. 

Bec’s fascination lies in learning about new cultures and different ways of living, whereas for Sean, it is the value of family and culture that sees him travelling for the fourth time to his motherland.  

Bec has been to Fiji and Hawaii. 

“It is really good I love the contrast, different foods and traditions,” she said. 

Sean added: “In Fiji, there are some similarities, but Samoa has their own way of life, they do things quite unique.” 

The first time Sean came to Samoa was in 2007 for a family reunion.

Despite growing up in Australia, Sean’s dad ensured that his children were taught the value and importance of the Samoan culture.

 “He told us stuff about the culture and I think I took it for granted until I met Bec and she was quite interested in learning more about it. Something to me that’s just normal and then I actually realised I should appreciate this more,” Sean said.

Bec  highlighted Samoa’s potential to grow its tourism market. 

 “A lot of the resorts don’t sell traditional food. It is taro but then you don’t get the same like us at home we have other Samoan food. It would be good to have some traditional food. 

 “The resort has a lot of cultural stuff like the fiafia night. That is a change I guess to experience the culture.

 “Maybe a bigger museum about the history of Samoa could be very interesting. The cultural center in Apia is pretty good,” Bec said. 

Sean added having a big shopping mall would interest a lot of tourists as well. 

 “There are a lot of taxis and a lot of ways to go around, it is quite easy to organise things alone,” Bec said. 

The couple is set to visit Savaii for two days before they bid their farewell. 

By Anina Kazaz 07 July 2018, 12:00AM

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