The Magic Circus of Samoa at Tafaigata is offering discount ticket prices to the public as part of a special offer during the COVID-19 global pandemic.

The circus owner and founder, Tupa'i Bruno Loyale, told the Samoa Observer in an interview he was sad seeing children unable to attend due to the financial difficulties brought on by the pandemic and is affecting families.

"We’re in unprecedented times with what's going on around the world and we thank God that we are probably the only circus in the world open right now,” Tupa'i said.

“And I guess our prices that we put are actually lower than before, the original prices are possibly a bit too much right now for people’s budget.

“It's not expensive but at the same time when you have a family, maybe it is because we’re in a difficult situation right now."

The price cuts include $10 for one adult [which was previously $20], $5 for a child and an additional $5 for a chair in the VIP section.

“So I think that will help out a lot of people that want to come see the circus with big families and let them enjoy,” added Tupa’i.

Emphasising that life can be stressful at this juncture in human history, he claimed that going to a circus can be a stress-reliever. Recently, members of the Samoa Victim Support Group’s Campus of Hope visited the circus. 

"A lot of people are stressed out, whether you're here in Samoa and you lost your job or you don’t have just enough money right now to do the things you wanna do and you can’t travel anywhere in the world," he said.

“So let's go ahead and bring our prices way down right now so that people can enjoy the circus and that's my goal, that's my goal. I heard a report just now that we’ve sold a lot of tickets today, I am very happy about that."

The circus will also be based at Tafaigata for the next few weeks to enable residents in Apia to visit, before heading out to tour the rural community as part of their “village tour”.

“I look forward to the villages, I think they will really enjoy the circus too,” he said.

When asked how many villages the circus will visit, he revealed that he is looking at one village per week.

"It depends on how many villages, I can do one village a week. I can probably do ten to twelve villages or more in Upolu.

“And of course you go to Savai’i and there could be ten villages in Savai’i, so altogether you got six or seven months of circus. Hopefully, if we can keep the virus out of Samoa, we can keep the circus open.”