Global pandemic. Cyclones. An undersea volcanic eruption. Our Pacific cousins have taken just about everything that nature could throw at them in the past few years, but across most of Te Moana nui a Kiwa, tourism is bouncing back – and in a big way, writes Ewan Mcdonald.
The message is that the island nations are open and welcoming visitors. Not only that, a number of our favourite destinations for a winter flop ’n’ drop are unveiling new places to stay and new places to play.
Sure, there are still challenges. Vanuatu remains under a state of emergency following February’s twin cyclones, Judy and Kevin, and Tonga is struggling to get shipshape again following the January 2022 eruption.
Fiji is rocking. In the first quarter of this year, Fiji Airways took more bookings for inbound passengers than in the pre-Covid boom of 2019.
Tourism Fiji CEO Brent Hill last week told the Fiji Tourism Expo the country needs “4000 to 5000 rooms immediately to meet demand. We certainly don’t want to turn anybody away from Fiji.”
Projects in the pipeline include the newly announced Crowne Plaza Fiji Nadi Bay Resort & Spa, which will add nearly 400 rooms. IHG Hotels & Resorts area manager Lachlan Walker expects the resort (previously Pullman Nadi Bay Resort and Spa Fiji) to open by the end of the year.
The hotel, which he says will be a “destination in itself”, will boast a new day spa, two-storey kids’ club, seven eateries and the Pacific’s only whisky bar, not to mention some pretty swanky-looking rooms. Walker says the property has the making of another Denarau “with a nicer beach”. Kiwi families looking for a school holiday break next year, have a word in your travel agents’ ear now.
Other significant projects are the 180-room Hilton Garden Inn Suva, 100-room Wananavu Beach Resort in Suncoast, 90-room Wyndham Garden Wailoaloa Beach and 40-room Ramada Seafront Apartments in the Coral Coast, plus a complete makeover of the Westin [aka Denarau Island Resort & Spa] due for completion next year.
And for experiences, Cloud 9 – you may know it as the country’s first two-level floating platform with an internationally stocked bar - has launched Maximum, a new party boat and island-hopping adventure combo in collaboration with Sleeping Giant Zipline. It’s intended to give a rounded experience on and off the water.
Sales and marketing manager Lucia Zeeard says trends have changed so much post-pandemic that it’s become imperative to offer exclusive tourism experiences that will continue attracting visitors.
She says the floating bar in the heart of the Mamanuca Group has made an exceptional turnaround after the pandemic. “The travel appetite is back, bookings continue to look good and it will get better.”
Last year’s opening of another operation, Seventh Heaven — a floating pontoon that features two large decks of sun-loungers, an international bar and restaurant - created some competition.
However, Zeeard says the local tourism sector is healthy. And as the business continues to expand and evolve, she says their fleet of boats will always offer guests new and unique experiences.
“What our team has created is a culture that is authentic and sincere and a sustainable and meaningful tourism company that is so much more than just a floating bar. It still really is and always will be a radically beautiful place to come together and connect with people.”
Like several New Zealand regions, Fiji is becoming one of the great destinations for stargazing. In October 2022, Nasa’s SSERVI (no translation: you can google it) visited Nanuku Resort Fiji, the five-star resort on a private island in Pacific Harbour, for a week of space exploration activities.
Nasa’s Dobsonian telescope (no translation: see previous) remains at Nanuku so guests can observe planets including Mars, Saturn and Venus, deep sky objects like nebulae and galaxies, and the resort boasts a Nasa-trained telescope operator.
Its “Celestial Concierge Experience” invites guests to catch a 20-minute boat ride to the island and camp overnight, learning about Fijian navigation traditions. Guests can add on space-inspired spa rituals. The best time for Fiji stargazing is June-September.
In the Cook Islands, the 20-year-old Motu Beachfront Art Villas has undergone a massive renovation to become a luxury adults-only retreat showcasing Pasifika art.
The 10 island-luxe villas beside Titikaveka Lagoon in Rarotonga’s southeast are regarded as the South Pacific’s first boutique art hotel. Motu serves as a gallery for its New Zealand owners’ art collection, a healing sanctuary and philanthropic trust supporting the community via art, health and education initiatives.
It fits right into the Cook Islands Tourism Corporation’s newly announced mission to integrate sustainable and regenerative tourism into the country’s visitor experiences.
The goal is to ensure that while tourism operators deliver exceptional visitor experiences, these services have a positive impact on the well-being of their people and environment. The programme aims to benefit tourism operators and community projects and consequently, visitors.
French Polynesia is moving in a similar direction, with Tahiti and its islands welcoming 218,000 visitors last year, just 8 per cent below 2019, its record year. During the pandemic the islands shut down for only two two-month periods, so tourism remained relatively strong, especially from its main markets, the US and France.
But the slowdown allowed officials to take stock and determine how to grow in a controlled manner to sustain their islands’ beauty and health and ensure revenues filter down to the local people who share their authentic culture with tourists.
The target is about 280,000 visitors a year by 2027, about one visitor per local, says Tahiti Tourisme CEO Jean-Marc Mocellin. The idea is to encourage tourism on less-visited islands to ease the strain on popular destinations like Moorea and Bora Bora.
“What we want to avoid is too much density on each island, and we don’t want to have a population that rejects tourism,” he said. In fact, he noted, the biggest resort in the islands has just 280 rooms, but there are many boutique inns and guest houses. Cruise ships sail among the islands, but 90 per cent of them carry fewer than 600 passengers.
The lure of Tahiti is the authentic culture, soft adventure and interaction with the people, Mocellin said. Pitching to Americans, but with an attitude that will appeal to New Zealanders, he said: “Many people would say it’s like Hawaii 40 years ago, and it is.”
An example is Tuamotu Archipelago, named one of the World’s 50 Greatest Places by Time magazine this year. The planet’s largest chain of atolls sprawls across 76 islands and 1.8 million square kilometres of the South Pacific.
The Tuamotus are known for black-pearl farming, world-class surfing, scuba diving and snorkelling, with plunging coral walls and current-washed passes filled with reef sharks. Most if not all tourism ventures are family-owned and operated, from accommodation to fishing charters or sailing adventures, so revenue stays in the islands.
For those who like to relax into somewhere a little more luxe, InterContinental’s Lifou Wadra Bay Resort is readying for its opening. The resort, on the white-sand beach in the south of Lifou, one of New Caledonia’s outer islands, “offers an extraordinary palette of colours highlighted by 6ha of luscious green gardens and untouched tropical forest. Discover a haven of peace amongst the artificial lagoon, crystal-clear waters, exquisite beaches and local Melanesian culture,” it promises.
It has 22 resort rooms in the gardens between the seawater lagoon and the beach, with five connecting to adjoining rooms, ideal for families travelling with older children, and one accessible room.
Both Tonga and Vanuatu are battling the effects of natural disasters, impacting tourism that had already been hit by the pandemic years.
In Tonga, the massive undersea eruption of January 2022 badly affected beachfront properties and visitor accommodation, with 32 per cent of the islands’ tourist beds lost and 23 properties severely damaged or completely destroyed.
The biggest hope for recovery this year is the whale-watching season. As a key migration site for humpback and other whale species, July-October is typically the peak tourism season as the marine behemoths swim past. Both Air New Zealand and Fiji Airways have resumed their flights from Auckland to Vava’u in time to catch up with the whales.
The Tourism Vanuatu website lists the nation as still in a state of emergency this week due to Judy and Kevin, the ghastly twin cyclones that wreaked havoc on the nation only three months ago.
Air Vanuatu has resumed flights in and out of Auckland and is working on a partnership with Solomon Airlines that is planned to add a third flight from Auckland to Port Vila on Mondays from June 5. That schedule would enable easy travel in a triangle encompassing Honiara in the Solomons, Auckland and Port Vila – hint, it would be appreciated if Kiwi travellers took advantage to visit both of those fascinating destinations. Talk to your travel agent.
For many New Zealanders, the most convenient way to drop in on the neighbours continues to be a Pacific Islands cruise, and several major lines are planning new itineraries for the 2023-24 summer and beyond.
The new kid on the block will be Disney, with the entertainment giant’s line launching its first South Pacific cruises from Aotearoa and Australia from October.
Come October 2023, Downunder Disney fans can hit the high seas on the Mouse House’s cruise line’s first voyages from NZ and Australia. If you (or the kids, or more likely grandkids) are keen on spending a couple of weeks floating around the ocean surrounded by all things Marvel, Pixar and Star Wars, this is bound to float your boat.
Onboard, you’ll watch live musical shows, see Disney characters everywhere you look and eat in spaces decked out like Disney movies. Those musicals include a Frozen show; another production dedicated to the company’s old-school favourites like Peter Pan, Pinocchio, Cinderella and Aladdin; and a Golden Mickeys performance, which is obviously all about Mickey Mouse.
There’s a Mickey party set to DJ beats, nightly fireworks and a pirate shindig on deck. Mickey, Minnie, Goofy, Pluto, Woody and the other characters will be wandering around the ship. Even Moana: how frightfully culturally aware of them.
P&O Cruises’ 2024-2025 programme features 157 sailings, when its three ships will call into 46 destinations across Australia, New Zealand and the South Pacific islands.
New Zealand will play host to Pacific Explorer. Kiwis will get a choice of 12 round-trip cruises from Auckland between April-July 2025, with the addition of the 14-night Queensland Explorer Voyager itinerary in June 2025, while Ovation of the Seas will make what’s become its traditional circumnavigations of Pacific’s triple star.
Norwegian Cruise Line will deploy three ships to the Asia-Pacific region for the first time in 2024-25. Norwegian Spirit will return to Downunder waters for the third straight year while Norwegian Sun and Norwegian Sky will cruise Asia.
Between October 2024-March 2025, Norwegian Spirit’s itinerary will include its first call to the Cook Islands. Highlights include a 14-day Australia: Brisbane, Cairns, Lombok & Darwin cruise out of Sydney to Bali in December, two voyages in the South Pacific between Sydney and Pape’ete, Tahiti departing November 2024 and March 2025, and a 16-day South Pacific: Fiji, Moorea & Samoa cruise from Pape’ete to Auckland in November 2025.
From skipping the queues to planning your parade spot, here's all you need to know.