Monday 30th September 2013 Issue 30 Inside: News from the office VTO Out n About Industry News Trade & Media Events & Festivals Entertainment
News from the office Promag New Zealand visits Port Vila
Above: Freeman is met by Alcina, & Tama (VTO) on arrival at the airport. Photo taken Charlie Sikal.
The Vanuatu Tourism Office organized a media visit for Mr Stuart Freeman from Promag NZ on a 3 days itinerary in Port Vila last week. Mr Freeman arrived on Wednesday 25th September and returned on Saturday over the weekend. Stuart was in Vila writing for Travelinc magazine which targets retail travel agents, travel brokers, wholesalers, corporate travel agents and travel managers, incentive operators and wedding planners - a wide ranging approach to the travel distribution chain. The magazine’s main circulation is in NZ, but also has some Australian readership. The VTO received fantastic support from the industry towards Mr Freeman’s visit and would like to acknowledge Management of the following: The Grand Hotel, Coconut Palms Resort, Poppys on the Lagoon Mangoes Resort, Holiday Inn Resort, Warwick Le Lagon, The Melanesian Hotel, Iririki Island Resort, Breakas Beach Resort, Surfside Vanuatu, and Evergreen Tours.
VTO attends the Origin Culinary Arts & Hospitality Show 2013 Media Conference On Wednesday 25th September 2013, VTO managers and senior staff attended a media conference organized by the host of the “Salon Culinaire”, the Vanuatu Chefs and Food Handlers Association. The media conference took place at Chantillys on the Bay and was attended by the National Culinary team, the VTO and media reps (right photo) . The conference aimed to raise awareness on the annual Origin Culinary Arts & Hospitality Show, which is the largest event of its kind in Vanuatu attracting over 200 registrants competing in cooking as well as front of house, coffee making, bar & waiter, and housekeeping. Registration deadline is today Monday 30th September 2013. The show is designed to develop and better Vanuatu Tourism Industries Chefs & Waiters, Baristas and Barmen & women through good spirited competition against one another. Over the years, the weeklong show has developed skills & confidence of Vanuatu’s tourism related Hospitality & Food and Beverage staff competing in many classes and winning awards.
2012 show pics
Winners chosen by international judges will be decided of Four Major Awards which are Moffat Vanuatu Senior Chef of the Year, Victorinox Vanuatu Junior Chef of the Year, Service Professional of the Year (for Wait staff), and the Origin Restaurant Challenge. The best three competitors in the “Chef of the Year” categories, will be selected to be in the 2014 Vanuatu National Culinary Team that will hopefully compete in Australia or New Zealand as did this year’s National Culinary team who competed in New Zealand in August and secured 2 Bronze medals won by chefs Bill Leoonardo and Rueben George - a fantastic first-time achievement for the local chefs! Read more. Publisher: VTO. Host : Issuu.com. Design & Cover: David Kirkland. Image credits: David Kirkland, Stuart Freeman, Vanuatu Chefs Association, Further Arts, Joanne Wade. © All rights reserved. This electronic magazine may not be reproduced in any form, in whole, or part, without the consent of the publisher. The VTO can not be held liable for any information contained in the advertisements. COPYRIGHT: VANUATU TOURISM OFFICE. Vanuatu Tourism Office, PO Box 209, Port Vila, Vanuatu. Ph (678) 22515 / 22685. Email tourism@vanuatu.travel. Web www.vanuatu.travel
VTO Staff Out & About Recently, VTO staffers were seen at the Salon Culinaire media conference, presentations, and at Poppys and The Terraces!
Local Industry Promising outlook for Vanuatu tourism cruise sector
By Charlie Sikal, VTO media student attachee: Vanuatu Tourism’s cruise sector received positive preliminary results compared to neighboring destinations according to latest Vanuatu Cruise Survey that was funded by the European Union and facilitated by the South Pacific Tourism Organization. The surveys, ongoing, were conducted in Port Vila and Mystery Island in July, by staff members of the VTO and the Department of Tourism. Australia had the highest number of cruise visitors with 90 percent of passengers arriving from Queensland (40% Australians), Sydney and NSW (32% Australians), Victoria (16% Australian), and South Australia (5%) and other countries making it up to 7 percent, 2nd being cruise tourists from New Zealand. Results showed that 63 percent of passengers interviewed had been to Vanuatu before, and were returning for their 2nd holiday by cruise, and 81% were satisfied and want to return for longer stays. Shore excursions showed that 44% of all passengers booked tours on arrival and 70% had pre- booked prior to arriving in Port Vila adding to the local revenue which at USD112 on average, per passenger, and other expenses including food and beverage, duty free and souvenir shopping, taxis and bus fares was estimated to be approximately USD138. 50% of passengers...... Read more.
Local Industry Online marketing training help SME’s set up professional e-commerce tools
By Charlie Sikal, VTO media student attachee: Vanuatu Tourism is fortunate to have Mr Len Cordiner from the World Hotel Link, contracted by the South Pacific Tourism Organization, in Vanuatu for 10 days from 9th to 29th September with expertise in the area of emarketing & commerce. Mr Corinder is working closely with small and medium enterprises (SMEs) which are the small hotel accommodations as well as tour operators, giving them tips on eMarketing and how to build their online presence, as well as offer book online services for these businesses. Many of the participants who attended the workshop on Monday last week at the Melanesian Hotel, took advantage of the “health check” tips so they can check their business websites and social media channels performance to make sure they’re in top shape to drive more business through. “As technology continues to advance, it’s getting more and more easier for SME’s to be able to receive bookings through mobile phones, facebook, twitter and other social media sites” explains Mr Cordiner who offered to set up websites for SME’s that do not have a site and want to register to be part of the program. The sites will be hosted on the World Hotel network providing book online services to promote and grow the small hotels and operators. Mr Cordiner expressed at the workshop that one of the main challenges he saw in the south pacific that hinders SMEs from growing as a business specifically online, derives from lack of finance and technical capacities to create and maintain a website. However, this workshop provided an opportunity for SME’s to get linked into a portal with book online services available to further promote the operator to a much wider audience who can potentially become customers. Mr Cordiner has just completed a workshop in Espiritu Santo and leaves for Tanna to do the same training. The VTO would like to sincerely acknowledge the European Commission, South Pacific Tourism Office, and Pacific Islands Trade and Invest, for providing Vanuatu with this great opportunity to build a stronger online presence especially for the small hotels and tour operators so they are set up with professional e-commerce and channel management tools. Thanks also to colleagues at the Department of Tourism for their ongoing support towards assisting with the Tanna and Espiritu Santo workshops, including ESTA, ESTOA, and TTC.
Living National treasures retire
By Mary and Jessel Niavia, long-time employees of Friendly Bungalows, Tanna have officially retired. The Australian owners of Friendly Bungalows together with an entourage of delegates, chiefs, senior community representatives and the Department of Tourism, were there this week in Tanna to mark the historic day. Search the internet and references to the couple, and in particular Mary, are plentiful. Marys’ warmth, genuine hospitality and welcome hug stay in people’s hearts forever. Mary and Jessel started working at Friendly Bungalows over 17 years ago at a time when tourism on Tanna, and in particular the remote east coast, was almost unheard of or at best restricted to the more hardy of adventure travellers keen to see the famous Mt Yasur volcano. It was considered a bold move in the late 1990’s for Jessel's family and others to survey this spectacular piece of coastal land and invite foreign investment into a previously closed and isolated community area. In her speech this week, Mary provided a narrative of her life at Friendly Bungalows and described the first few years as very tough, with no transport and little infrastructure, a vast comparison to the property and support amongst community evident today. “We are proud of the development of the Friendly Bungalows as we can see it today” said Mary in her narrative, adding that together with Jessel they wanted to ensure “Friendly Bungalows becomes a model for every bungalows at Whitesands today!” Mary descried the changes in Friendly Bungalows and the rise of tourism in the area as having an enormous positive impact on her community, describing employment for individuals and also the assistance to community groups and organisations including schools, church groups, and local gardeners who supply produce for the business. In particular, the three local villages within walking distance to Friendly Bungalows, Lounasunan, Lono and Lopali have all recently started to offer custom activities for tourists and guests are welcome to experience local custom dancing, cooking and weaving demonstrations and workshops, and also listen to the authentic John Frum movement musical activities every evening, The small amount of money earned from guests visiting these villages assists greatly with day to day life and the community are strongly motivated to share their local customs and culture and keep their history alive for future generations. As Mary so aptly concluded in her farewell speech on Tuesday, “Long live Friendly Bungalows”. Mary and Jessel have retired and intend to spend their time in the nearly by Lono village and will welcome all visitors who wish to come and talk and listen to their stories for as long as Mt Yasur continues to rumble…a very long time to come! Read more.
We’re hot and on again in Real Pasifik On Saturday 19th October 2013!
Vanuatu continues to be a favorite in the most loved south pacific cuisine & culture series showing in New Zealand and across the world. Vanuatu will reappear in the episode on the 19th October, in “a Best Of” where the audience will see more beautiful footages not seen in the first Vanuatu episode. The VTO would like to thank everyone involved in Real Pasifik and especially the Iririki Island Resort and Management for hosting the crew and providing a wonderful venue and backdrop for the shooting. Go to Real Pasifik TV Series - 4pm Saturdays on TV One REAL PASIFIK
An 8th Wonder of the World update: Virtual Tourist has advised the VTO that Mount Yasur is currently in the Top 200* out of 334 nominations. We have 1 ½ months to move up the leaderboard as voting closes on September 30th so industry operators, colleagues, please remind your business partners, family, friends and fans to vote! To gain more votes, forward this link http://www.virtualtourist.com/8thwonder and ask recipients to vote for Mount Yasur, Tanna, share the link on your social media channels, have the link in an email blast or newsletter to your subscriber base and ask them to vote for Mount Yasur. Top Place groups are Top 5, Top 10, Top 25, Top 50, Top 100, Top 150, Top 200, Top 250, Top 300, Top 350. Help the VTO help Vanuatu get into the finals and make us known to a wider scope of potential tourists!!!
Events & Festivals
Vanuatu set for “Battle of the Pacific”
Media release: Saturday 12th October is set to host an epic Pacific showdown with the first ever Vanuatu versus Niue rugby league match. Vanuatu Rugby League founder Dane Campbell said the “Battle of the Pacific” is a great achievement for the Vanuatu Rugby League (VRL)." "The game against Niue will be a huge event. We are very much looking forward to having them in Port Vila. " "Both teams have a number of talented players and I personally believe that this game will be as well contested as it is attended!" Vanuatu are due to play Solomon Islands in Mackay, Australia on Saturday 5th October, which is a game that is being staged to commemorate the “Black Birding” period 150 years ago. The Municipal Stadium in Port Vila will again be the venue for the game and an anticipated capacity crowd of 5,000 is expected to come out and support their national heroes against the bigger Niue team. The Vanuatu team will arrive in Port Vila on Wednesday 9th October and will be visiting schools and communities in the lead up to the game. The curtain raiser game will feature a Port Vila representative side taking on a representative side from Luganville, in a match that will be fiercely contested also and set the tone for a great afternoon of rugby league action. Tickets will go on sale to the general public in early September. ...ReadMore... Further Information or quotes, please contact: Ben Howard (VRL Media Manager): (+61) 0414 775 703. Email: vanuaturugbyleague@gmail.com
Fest’Napuan 2013’s feature Santo lokol band: 1606 Jammin’ Band
Long yia ia bae yumi luk wan top grup blong yumi we bae oli kam olwe long Santo blong kivimaot wan show long Fest’Napuan 2013. Grup ia oli singaotem 1606 Jammin’ Band we namba ia 1606 hemi stap tingtingbak long taem we Pedro Fernandez De Quieros i mekem wan dekleresen long aelan blong Espiritu Santo long Mei 1606. 1606 Jammin’ Band i bin stat long yia 2011. Taem ia i bin kat tu memba nomo i statem band we hemi Goddy mo Simeon. Long taem ia tufala plei jamin nomo wetem kitar mo bongo. Long 2012 nao oli plei wetem ful band yusum ol instramen mo hemi fes pablik apirens mo i bin kat 6 memba nomo blong band. Afta band i bin brokaot mo i kam solid bageken long 2013 wetem 7 memba we oli stap nomo long Santo. Insaed long grup I gat men faonda mo singa/songraeta Simeon Vuti wetem James Garae Bakeo, Desmond Tabi, Jeffrey Bakeo, François Roy, Marie Rose Garae mo Osborn Bule. Musik naoia hemi olsem wan mix flavour blong reggae wetem tradisonel riddim. Long yia ia oli bin mekem wan top show long Chapui long Luganville we I bin gat bigfala atendens mo naoia fulap fan I stap folem olgeta. Tru long givhan blong Fest’Napuan Asosiesen mo ol bigfala sponsa blong yumi olsem Air Vanuatu, UNELCO mo TVL, bae yumi luk show blong olgeta ia long Sarere namba 20 long Saralana stej. No mestem janis blong yu blong harem ol tuff musik blong 1606 Jammin’ Band long taem ia!
Events & Festivals