The Samoa Tourism Authority hosted a gathering of industry members from hoteliers to accommodation managers and owners on Friday last week at Tanoa Tusitala Hotel.
Chairperson of the Board of Samoa Tourism Authority (STA) Tauiliili Alise Stunnenberg in her official remarks thanked all those who took their time to participate in this important meeting.
According to her this is the second briefing on Commonwealth Heads of Government Meeting (CHOGM) for Industry members.
And pointed out that there is excitement in the air with CHOGM just 7 weeks away.
In fact Tauiliili said it was a little bit of excitement and a little bit of trepidation for most who are currently still working on their final preparations before the meeting rolls out in October.
But encouragingly pointed out that this was okay because this is the Samoan way – all will be well when the event rolls out.
There are going to be 55 member countries including four (4) monarchs she confirmed to industry members.
With only one country not participating at this year’s CHOGM.
She reiterated to the members how important the tourism industry is to Samoa successfully hosting this incredibly high profile meeting on our island.
“Our sector plays a very important role in the success of this meeting with the provision of high quality accommodation and hospitality services,” she said.
It was an opportunity to show the world what Samoa has to offer and why it could be the best destination to visit.
“And this is going to be great opportunity for us to showcase our country, our destination, and our tourism offers to the world.”
She said this was especially given the amount of media that will be in our country in October.
“So we must all be in our best behaviour, right!”
She reconfirmed during her remarks that “we have had to charter a cruise liner in addition to hotel rooms and private homes to make up for the number of rooms that are required for CHOGM.”
And, “Naturally we’ve found that the preference of the delegates is for land based accommodation.”
According to Tauiliili this is also the Authority’s preference, ‘because we want to make sure that all your rooms are filled as much as possible’.
She also pointed out there were official requests made from the CHOGM Accommodation Committee through its co-chair as well as the co-chair of the CHOGM Task Force to changes extending the room release dates to delegates.
She said this was because member countries are still requiring additional time to finalise the number of their contingency and accommodation bookings.
She then extended her great appreciation for their ‘patience and continued support and assurance to Government of a successful CHOGM’.
The Talanoa Session focused on three different important aspects related to CHOGM; CHOGM Accommodation, CHOGM Security and CHOGM Food Supplies.
The chairlady’s remarks were followed by presentations from the Commissioner of Police Auapaau Logoitino Filipo and Deputy Police Commissioner Papali’i Monalisa Tiai-Keti, Chamber of Commerce Chief Executive Officer Lita Lui who gave an update on the Food Supplies for the CHOGM and Chief Executive Officer of the Samoa Tourism Authority (STA) Toleafoa Pativaine Petaia-Tevita who gave an update on Accommodations for the meeting.
She also introduced a new director to the STA Board Joyce Scanlan whose previous life according to Tauiliili was Head of Hospitality Training program at Samoa Polytechnic later merged with the National University of Samoa.
“She is a great asset to us and important part of our work.”
Caption: Facilitators, Presenters and participating business owners at the Tourism Industry Meet/Talanoa Session for Commonwealth Heads of Government Meeting (CHOGM) Update at Tanoa Tusitala.
Authored by Jasmine Netzler-Iose
