The Government needs to work a lot harder and more consistently if Samoa wants to lure Chinese tourists to its shores.

That’s the message from the President of the International China Investment Forum, Marcus Lee, who said Samoa has got a long way to go to catch up with neighbouring tourism destination Fiji - and become "China Ready."

“Samoa has been trying for many years to improve on the Chinese arrival,” Mr. Lee said.

“This doesn’t happen overnight. We had the Samoa Tourism Exchange and we invited one of the largest tour operators (from China) here. One of them told me that Chinese tourists don’t just fall from the sky. That means we have to work on it.”

Mr. Lee drives the “China Ready" programme in the Pacific, which aims to prepare destinations to attract and welcome more Chinese tourists.

This week, the Samoa Airport Authority (S.A.A.) became the first airport in the Pacific to receive the China Visitor Award Accreditation.

The authority says the award means “Chinese visitors will feel at home upon arrival to Samoa, having the amenities including Free WIFI and hot water and many more matched expectation".

“Samoa Airport is the first in the Pacific to be accredited, this shows that the Samoan government is very committed, this shows that the Samoa Airport Authority is committed to be China Ready,” said Mr. Lee.

“And Samoa and S.A.A. will be a role model for the entire Pacific. If you go to a country like Fiji or other country airports, they have very good facilities but they are not fully China Ready. So hopefully this can be a good example for other neighbouring countries that we can grow together as a region.”

Some 162 million Chinese travel abroad last year. While it couldn't be ascertain how many of that number came to Samoa, Mr. Lee said one thing is certain, Samoa has got a long way to go.

“For example, Fiji made 20 roadshow trips to China to promote Fiji last year, Samoa made two trips,” Mr. Lee said.

“This year, Samoa has made zero trips to China so you see, you need to have output to have input. You have to work on it. Again Chinese tourists don’t drop from the sky, you have to work on it step by step. It’s consistency.”

Mr. Lee again used Fiji as an example.

“Countries like Fiji, took them years to reap the benefits they are enjoying right now. We can learn from our neighbouring countries, like Maldives, it took them from zero to 300,000 (Chinese) visitors,” he said.

“It doesn’t mean you go to China last year and you don’t go this year and you just sit there and expect people to come. It doesn’t work like that because the visibility and awareness about Samoa in China is still relatively low.”