South Pacific Tourism Organization chief executive Tony Everitt said that up to a quarter of Samoa’s GDP relied on tourism — and New Zealand was its largest visitor market.
He said he was not intending to downplay the scale of the tragedy, but by the time people got around to planning their Christmas holidays, Samoa would welcome the much-needed cash.
“They [visitors] are going to be welcome to keep the economy going.”
Speaking from his base in Suva, Everitt said it would not help if people stayed away from Samoa from some misguided sense of decorum.
“It is quite important that as we grieve for those who have been severely impacted by the disaster we keep it in context and understand that there is a lot of Samoa that — while they will be in mourning for some time — is quickly going to be back in business as usual.”
Samoa has risen in the past decade to be the third most popular tourism destination in the South Pacific.
“The good thing about tourism, always, is that it can disappear quickly when something happens but it can come back really quickly as well. As long as visitors start coming, cash gets back into the economy quickly again…. It is not like [other industries where] you have to replant trees and crops,” Everitt said.
He had been in touch with tourism representatives in Samoa and was told that, in tourist terms, only a small proportion of the country was damaged.
“It is hard to say that because you know that, for those people who are impacted, it is everything,” he said.
The owner of one resort with links to the organization, which is the official tourism promotion body for 15 member countries in the South Pacific, lost his wife.
“We had three member resorts there on the southern coast of Upolu, which is the most affected area. It will be some time before they can operate,” Everitt said.
The capital, Apia, the airport and most other major tourism infrastructure was on the northside of the island, which had been sheltered from the devastation by the wrecked southeast coast.
The other main island, Savaii, had been sheltered by Upolu.
