Fiji is number one on a lot of Kiwis' wish list. Photo / Tourism Fiji
The Pacific Islands remain a big hit for Kiwis looking for an easy and convenient overseas holiday. But where to head to in 2024? Ewan McDonald takes a look.
Gold medal if you can name the biggest game in the Pacific next year.
It’s the 2024 Paris Olympics, and that’s not a misprint. The surfing competition is set to break over Teahupo’o, Tahiti, from July 27-30.
Oui, Tahiti is 15,000-and-change kilometres from the French capital. But (a) you don’t catch a lot of bombs on the Seine, (b) it’s in French Polynesia, and (c) Teahupo’o is rated one of the world’s best surf waves.
Top exponents say it’s an exhilarating and unique spot which provides one of the sport’s biggest tests. It has long hosted events for the World Surf League’s championship tour, with a wooden tower installed on the coral reef for the judges.
To the locals’ chagrin, Olympic organisers plan to install a much larger aluminium tower. Residents have petitioned against the construction, warning it could damage the reef and the drilling and installation of underwater pipelines risks the marine ecosystem and the wave.
So, as we say in the Travel pages, watch this place.
Gazing into the placid blue yonder of the South Pacific’s 5000 islands to see what’s going to be hot in the coming year, two themes stand out.
First, almost all the nations and their tourism industries are still feeling the effects of long Covid, and there’s a universal concern about protecting their unique and fragile environment from the effects of climate change and over-tourism.
Take Vanuatu, the country at most risk of severe natural disasters in the region, where three severe cyclones have claimed lives and wrecked infrastructure so far this year.
The Government began to rethink the future of its tourism industry during the pandemic. It is now focussing on “destination wellbeing” with the aim of “moving beyond solely measuring visitor arrivals and contribution to GDP”.
Its Sustainable Tourism Strategy aims to protect and celebrate the nation’s unique environment, culture, customs and people through sustainable and responsible tourism.
It’s partnering with The Happiness Index, a global initiative to measure well-being in tourism destinations linked to Unesco World Heritage Sites. Indicators include satisfaction with life, access to nature and arts, community engagement, standard of living, life-long learning and health.
Samoa is up and running again after the borders and virtually all its attractions were closed for more than 2½ years.
Several resorts have used 2023 to get their properties staffed, booked and renovated, such as Coconuts Beach Club Resort & Spa at Maninoa Siumu. It suffered a double whammy – Covid lockdowns, then a 2021 fire that destroyed the staff quarters and guest house.
These have been rebuilt and remodelled, as have many of the facilities at the resort on the southern coast of Upolu, the main island, where it offers the only over-the-water bungalows in Samoa.
Seabreeze Resort, named the best romantic resort in Oceania at the 2021 World Travel Awards, is also back to normal operations after a massive renovation. After the Covid closure, the resort was shuttered while all 13 ocean-view rooms were remodelled and upgraded. The restaurant has been upgraded, the spa extended, there’s a new swimming pool and the grounds have been landscaped for a premium experience.
We’re happy to report – via Travel’s Elisabeth Easther, a recent visitor - that the Kingdom of Tonga is back on the map after a hellish five years that’s dumped cyclones, a pandemic and one of the planet’s biggest volcanic eruptions.
“So what is it like to visit Tonga today?” Easther wrote.
“In a word, sublime, but with 130 beds on the western side of Tongatapu lost to the eruption, accommodation can be limited. To gaze upon a shoreline strewn with fallen coconuts, you have to marvel at the way new trees sprout from hardy husks, which brought to mind Tonga itself, the very model of resilience.”
If you’re thinking about a midwinter flop’n drop in Fiji next year, you might have already missed the plane.
House of Travel’s South Pacific head Natalie von Dincklage says Kiwis have been booking their 2024 Fiji holidays for months.
It’s a case of first-in, best sun-lounger. Tourism to Fiji – particularly Aussies, but also Northern Hemisphere folk – has soared since the country reopened. These travellers book nine months ahead while Kiwis leave it until three or four months out, risking hotels and flights being fully booked.
On that score, good news as several major chains plan new ventures.
Lachlan Walker, IHG Hotels & Resorts regional general manager, says the group is looking for more sites in the South Pacific after rebranding the Grand Pacific Hotel Suva into an InterContinental in 2022.
Work is due to begin on what’s being touted as a “7-star” One&Only Resort on Nacula Island. Plans include high-end villas, five food outlets, a luxury spa and beach club set on one of the Yasawas’ most beautiful beaches with a commitment to environmental sustainability.
At Savusavu Bay, across from Vanua Levu, phase one of the Nawi Island project has been opened, a new marina for super-yachts and the even larger mega-yachts. Sites are being sold for phase two - luxury freehold residences, a private yacht club, a world-class spa and resort.
The US-based Wyndham group has new properties in the Ramada Seafront Apartments, at Sigatoka on the Coral Coast, and the Wyndham Gardens Wailoaloa Beach, a 10-minute drive from Nadi.
The Cook Islands is also getting a new hotel, although it’s not really. The infamous, abandoned Sheraton at Vaima’anga in the south of Rarotonga is finally about to welcome its first guests.
The original hotel was supposed to be the Cooks’ first 5-star resort. Work began in 1983 and was abandoned in 1993 when 80 per cent completed, almost bankrupting the country. There’s been a history of failed renovations, rumours of Italian Mafia involvement and claims of a curse.
The first phase of the new project includes 41 rooms and a pool. The 10-year plan sees several pools, a tennis court, restaurants, apartments to buy, guest accommodation and private beach access.
It’s being developed by Christopher Vaile, a New Zealand-born businessman who has lived in Rarotonga for over five decades.
Vaile says it won’t be the 5-star resort originally intended. “We don’t plan to run it like it was originally planned. We have a different concept. We will sell off apartments and as well as having accommodation [for guests], we will have some restaurants here, but we won’t run those ourselves.”
The apartments will be available to locals and foreigners, while the property will be self-sufficient with power generated on-site using a mixture of hydro, solar and diesel.
Our tip for the hottest spot for Kiwis in 2024? New Caledonia. Visitors to the French Pacific island (not including cruise ships) are virtually back to pre-Covid numbers.
And for the first six months of 2023, arrivals from mainland France were 12 per cent up on pre-Covid 2019, Aussies up 29 per cent and New Zealanders a whopping 33 per cent lift.
On the hotel front, the 50-room InterContinental Lifou Wadra Bay Resort, originally signed as a Hilton back in 2016, re-opened in September. In 2024, Holiday Inn-branded resorts will open on Lifou and Ouvea.
So if you’ve put off the idea of a Paris trip next year because of Olympic crowds, regrette rien. We’ll always have Noumea.
Israel briefly closed its airspace following US attacks on Iranian nuclear sites.