PTI, TripAdvisor deal powers Pacific tourism

Sydney-based Pacific Trade Invest has formed a partnership with TripAdvisor to help the tourism industry in the Pacific islands.

PTI is funded by the Department of Foreign Affairs and Trade

Sydney-based Pacific Trade Invest has formed a partnership with TripAdvisor to help the tourism industry in the Pacific islands attract the large proportion of international travellers who plan and book online.

Even without a significant online presence, tourism — the region’s biggest single economic sector after agriculture and fisheries — has been growing steadily, by 4.8 per cent in 2015, dipping to 3.7 per cent in 2016 but expected to finish this year back up at 4.5 per cent.

Fiji is the dominant market, with about 40 per cent of tourist arrivals in the region, followed by French Polynesia with 9.5 per cent, Papua New Guinea with 8.8 per cent, and Samoa and the Cook Islands with 7.2 per cent each.

But PTI, which is funded by the Department of Foreign Affairs and Trade, and TripAdvisor, the world’s largest online travel site, believe that the travel industry in these countries has been missing opportunities to grow much faster.

They will together run a series of workshops advising tourism operators in island countries how to benefit from a greater online presence — with revenues from such bookings soaring worldwide by 73 per cent over the last five years.

PTI commissioner Caleb Jarvis said many Pacific travel businesses had no online presence.

The workshops, he said, “will educate participants about the importance of digital channels and social recommendations, so they can be considered when holidaymakers are researching where to stay and what to do in this beautiful part of the world”.

Sarah Mathews, the Asia-Pacific head of destination marketing for TripAdvisor, said the company would provide “insights on travel trends and consumer behaviours to help hospitality businesses and service providers more effectively reach out and cater to global travellers”.

Brendan Coombs, the operator of Driftwood Resort in Alotau, PNG, said that since adding an online booking program to a website created with the assistance of PTI and TripAdvisor, improving search engine optimisation, bookings had already risen 15 per cent.