Two weeks ago, Prime Minister Fiame Naomi Mata’afa, announced the reopening of Samoa’s borders to international travellers.  Aside from the excitement of seeing relatives and friends we have not seen for a long, long time, the Samoa Tourism Authority (S.T.A) immediately leapt with joy at the opportunity of finally welcoming tourists after a nearly three year hiatus. 

No sooner had the Prime Minister made the announcement, the S.T.A. sent out their own advisory with an email titled “Beautiful is Back: Samoa borders to open August 1.” The advisory, quoting the Authority’s Acting C.E.O., Pativaine Petaia-Tevita, assured that a series of measures have been put in place to ensure Samoa is travel ready, and that the health and safety of locals and international travellers is of utmost priority. Some of what they described as “robust preparations” includes the “digital contact tracing app, training and upskilling for local employees, upgraded travel instructions and bolstered testing capabilities.” 

“As international travel begins to take shape again, Samoa has been striving to ensure critical components of our travel-ready toolkit are in place. All of these efforts ensure we are in a top position to safely open borders to travellers,” Mrs. Petaia-Tevita said. “We look forward to welcoming visitors with open arms later this year, and we encourage travellers to experience Samoa’s untouched beauty, unique cultural experiences, rich heritage and friendly locals for themselves.”

We cannot fault the Samoa Tourism Authority’s excitement. The industry after all has been dead and buried in terms of international tourism since the beginning of the COVID-19 pandemic so the thought of welcoming international visitors again must be a huge relief. 

Last week, the S.T.A. had apparently sent out an invitation to a meeting to discuss the reopening of Samoa’s international borders.  "We’re super excited with the announcement that our borders will reopen to all travellers on 1st August and as part of our preparations, we will host a special ‘Beautiful is Back’ Industry Planning Meeting to engage stakeholders, share plans, obtain feedback and respond to questions," reads the S.T.A. email. "The main topics which will be covered include marketing planning, product development including training and inspections, projections and targets, sector planning and other related matters.”

Resorts like the Amoa Resort in Savai’i immediately embraced the initiative. Manager Elisabeth Siaosi said she is delighted for the sake of the tourism industry.

“Our industry has bore the brunt economically but this will be a welcome lifeline after measles and COVID,” she said. "Overall we are very excited for the opportunities and pray that Samoa will continue to remain protected as more travellers begin to arrive. For the many families that have endured through this pandemic we can now see the light at the end of the tunnel which is very exciting.”

Wonderful. We cannot agree more. 

Unfortunately, not everyone in the industry shares S.T.A and Ms Siaosi’s excitement. It’s not that the unhappy operators do not welcome the reopening of the borders but they are not impressed with the Authority’s handling of what has been an extremely difficult time for them.

"S.T.A treats the industry like children. We were six feet under and some of us still are, but they did not come to help or encourage us to keep at it, we were left to our own devices,” one hotelier said. Another operator said: "S.T.A uses seminars to disseminate information rather than listening to the needs of industry members or property owners. That is why I have no interest in their meetings anymore.”

We sympathise with these tourism operators. They have a legitimate point the S.T.A and the Government must listen to and take on board. Indeed, the plight of the tourism industry, especially hoteliers and accommodation providers, has been well detailed on the pages of your newspaper during the past two years. In a nutshell, they have been unashamedly begging for financial assistance. That’s what desperation does. It is a miracle that Samoa still has a tourism industry, or whatever remains of it today. 

But there is a lot of work to be done to get the “beautiful back” into the tourism industry as a whole. The fact is that aside from a few resorts and hotels, after everything that has happened, most of the tourism properties in Samoa are not in a state to welcome international visitors. Broke, run down and without workers, some of these business people simply don’t have the finances, nor the drive restore their properties and get them back to where they were pre-COVID, before 1 August.

For S.T.A, Prime Minister Fiame and the Government, this should be their priority. While it is nice that they are already beating the drum to invite visitors, they have an obligation to ensure the struggling tourism industry is as ready as it can be come 1 August 2022. They are duty-bound to help in any way possible to lift the downhearted spirits of the industry and get them excited about the tourism possibilities again.

How? Funding. Tourism properties in Samoa need funding immediately to restore and prepare for the big day up ahead. If the Government is serious about tourism and the reopening of borders, they should consider this a priority. The Minister of Finance, Mulipola Anarosa Molio’o’s budget for 2022-2023, expected to be announced at the end of the month, will be a great start. 

Where will funding come from? Where there is a will there is a way. 

It is irresponsible for the Government, especially the S.T.A, to drum up Samoa as a top tourism destination and leave the struggling businesses to their own devices and demise. Now let’s wait and see!