Vanuatu will continue to focus on promoting tourism to its outer islands, with more tourists heading beyond traditional mainstay Efate than ever before.
Air Vanuatu regional manager Australia and New Zealand Malcolm Pryor told Travel Today that the carrier had seen a clear increase in the number of passengers flying to islands such as Santo and Tanna.
“There’s no question that visits to the outer islands have increased, particularly to Santo, and we’ve seen a very satisfying increase in the split on direct services which go to Santo and then on to Vila where more and more people are getting off at Santo,” he said.
Pryor attributed the growth to a combined effort by the airline and the Vanuatu Tourism Office (VTO) to raise the profile of the outer islands.
New properties and an increase in service standards had also contributed to the increase, he added.
Meanwhile, VTO marketing manager Allan Kalfabun revealed last year’s launch of the Malampa Travel call centre had been a success. The centre provides a link between buyers, accommodation and tour operators in the Malekula islands where telecommunications are an ongoing issue.
“It’s been so successful they’re now extending it to Ambryn Island,” he told Travel Today. The new centre will launch before the end of the year.
However, while Adventure World currently operates tours to some of Vanuatu’s more remote island destinations, Kalfabun admitted there was still a considerable amount of work to do to grow interest to the largely unknown island destinations.
“There’s a lot of awareness we need to work on, and we’re addressing that step by step,” he said.
