Tourism Solomons invites South Pacific neighbours to share the spoils

CEO Jo Tuamoto – “We have, in the truest spirit of Melanesian, Micronesian and Polynesian brotherhood, welcomed our neighbours to join us with open arms.”

Honiara, Solomon Islands, 07 February 2019 – In a move that has several of the smaller South Pacific nations’ tourist offices applauding their Solomon Islands counterpart, Tourism Solomons has extended an open invitation to its regional neighbours to join in the 2019 ‘Me Save Solo’ tourism exchange as exhibitors.

Response has been swift with delegates from Fiji, the Federated States of Micronesia, Papua New Guinea, Kiribati and Nauru all expressing interest in the event taking place in Honiara on 05 July 2019.

Justifying the decision, Tourism Solomons CEO, Josefa ‘Jo’ Tuamoto said he was very aware his tourism industry colleagues in many of the smaller South Pacific nations simply did not have the resources to stage their own tourism exchanges.

“The opportunity to join in and exhibit at other of the larger South Pacific nations’ tourism exchanges dried up several years ago,” Mr Tuamoto said.

“Since then, many of our smaller neighbours have missed out completely.

“As one of the smaller South Pacific nations we know exactly what it feels like – it was a similar situation in the Solomon Islands until last year when with government and industry support, both domestic and international, we were able to stage our first ever full-scale tourism exchange.

“So, in order to help give them the start we have been fortunate to achieve we have, in the truest spirit of Melanesian, Micronesian and Polynesian brotherhood, welcomed our neighbours to join with us and share the benefits with open arms.”

‘Me Save Solo’2018 attracted more than 50 international buyers from Australia, the US, Japan and Taiwan.

Tourism Solomons anticipates even stronger numbers in 2019 with buyers joining the event from further afield including the UK, continental Europe and other parts of Asia.

Venue for the 2019 event will be the Institute of Tourism in the Solomon Islands National University campus.