Samoa’s tourism sector has to work on “nurturing” relationships with Samoans living abroad as they make up the largest component of visitor numbers to the country prior to the COVID-19 pandemic.

That is the view of the Minister of Tourism, Toeolesulusulu Cedric Schuster, when he was asked by the Samoa Observer recently on potential further assistance for the country’s crippled tourism sector.

He acknowledged the appeal by the Samoa Hotels Association President for more funding assistance for the local operators.

"I think that if the Samoa Hotels Association President highlights funds required by the association [it] is his job,” the Minister said.

 “He is not a president of the association if he does not voice what their needs are. But it is my job to say what we can do and find out how – all the sectors are struggling, the agricultural, the tourism, the fisheries and so forth.”

Toeolesulusulu added that all economic sectors have been adversely affected by the pandemic, which calls for re-strategising by the relevant authorities.

“But that means we need to strategise to ensure that we can account for the whole country's sustainability," he said.

The Minister said Samoa’s tourism sector is well developed due to increased investment over the years and it is a “ready-made market”.

And with a large number of visitors to Samoa entering under the ‘visitors families and residents’ (V.F.R.) category prior to the pandemic, Toeolesulusulu said it is time for the tourism industry to “nurture that”.

"Most of the tourists are not bona fide tourists, they are V.F.R visitors, families and residents,” he said. They are Samoans so we need to start bringing a lot of those because they have a connection with Samoa, and they can be returning visitors.

"Our stimulus was to recognise that there has been two years of no movement, but now this is also to start thinning out the properties that do not really deserve it.”

The economic downturn is also a “blessing in disguise” according to the Minister, as he says operators should review their operations to determine if they should continue in the business.

“Maybe it is a blessing in disguise for people to realise that to keep going down this pathway is not what they should be doing,” Toeolesulusulu said. “Maybe it is time for some of them to redirect their resources and to do something else.

"We are lucky compared to a lot of tourist businesses in other countries in the world. 

“Most of our beach fales, for instance, invested little money but not as much as the millions and millions lost by people overseas.

"We also have our lands so one can find another career if the hotel is not working.

"From the looks of the pandemic, I think the country is recognising that when we put all our eggs in one basket, we lose out. 

“When all our eggs are in the tourism basket or the agriculture basket, then we are at risk of losing everything from those entities when something happens.

"That said we also don’t want R.S.E. to be the only dependent – everything has to be done in moderation.”

The Minister also warned against the culture of expecting handouts from the Government and described it as “not a good thing”.

"I worry that the culture of handouts give outs is growing in Samoa, look at our people relying on overseas [families] for food, instead of going to the plantations or they would rely on their families in Apia.

“They would pressure their families in Apia to say that they are matai so they need to give to them but that means they make the relatives feel bad and so you give but you have so little to develop yourself.

"Come [general] election time the mentality is that if you don’t give us money we won't vote for you.

"We never used to be like that before – we have to change that mentality to strengthen our communities into becoming self-sustainable.”

The diversification of Samoa’s economy to start “thinking outside the box” is the stage that the country needs to get to, said Toeolesulusulu.

"Yes we are still very committed to tourism and we are already looking at innovative ways to think outside the box with the Samoa Tourism Authority,” he told this newspaper. “One of my goals is to raise tourist [arrivals in Samoa] up to 250,000 before my five years of ministerial posting is up.

"I want to see tourism income of say between 70 and 80 per cent remain in Samoa.”

Comparing Samoa and Fiji in terms of their attractions as tourist destinations, the Minister said Samoa needed to have “competitive advantage” like Fiji. 

"Fiji has a lot of activities when tourists arrive there, yet we do not, what can we do about that?” Toeolesulusulu asked. "So not just hotels but everything else needs to be developed that relates to tourism so that if the hotel is not working well, then we can utilise the other resources within and around it.”