By Staff Writer
PHOTO : PM Fiame official address at Teuila Festival opening
Samoa’s tourism industry recovery in the last 12 months is a source of “great pleasure” for Prime Fiame Naomi Mataafa.
The Government leader sang the sweet blessings for Samoa at the official opening of the Teuila Festival, Sunday night.
“It gives me great pleasure to say that 12 months since borders reopened in August last year until July this year, the recovery of the sector compared to pre-covid time in terms of visitor arrivals has been astounding at 77.15%,” she delightedly announced.
The PM highlighted the role of the annual festival in raising outside travel interests to Samoa since it first started 33 years ago to “honour” the national culture.
But there are concerns in the industry she is wary of, enough to urge people to be more responsible.
“Tourism affects our lives to some extent, positively as well as negatively. And this is why Tourism is ALL of our responsibility.”
The Teuila Festival runs all week and features “traditional cultural entertainment, games, carving, tattooing, fabric printing, and food experiences, with the Miss Samoa Pageant as the finale of the Teuila festivities on Saturday night.”
The Central Bank of Samoa’s report of the national economy in the last 12 months up to June 2023, sets out the official status of the travel industry for the period.
The report recorded total visitor arrivals at around 125 thousand people divided into two main categories of Visiting Friends and Relatives, and Holiday Makers.
The Friends and Relatives category brought in the most visitors of around 52 thousand or about 42 percent.
The Holiday makers made up close to 44 thousand visitors or 35 per cent overall.
Total Visitor earnings for Samoa showed a total of close to $422m tala.
Most or just over $206m tala or 49.1 per cent were generated by Friends and Relatives.
Holiday makers chipped in just over $131m tala overall or a little over 31 per cent.
The travel industry earnings in 12 months up to last June is a welcome spin to the setbacks of growing inflation over the same time span.
The CBS report recorded an inflation rate of 12 per cent that had remained as of last June.
This was compared to 8.8 per cent last year up to June.
“Underpinning the increase over the year was a strong pickup in local (component) inflation, which rose to 9.2 percent from 8.7 percent in the previous month and 3.9 percent in June 2022,” according to the report.
A worrying note in the report is the drop in agricultural produce in the last 12 months up to June.
“According to the Samoa Bureau of Statistics (SBS) monthly survey, the average volume of agricultural produce supplied to the local markets in the twelve months to June 2023, was 0.7 percent lower over the same period last year. This was mainly due to reductions in average supplies of stable food crops such as ta’amu, banana and pumpkin. As a result of shortage of agricultural products, the average price index rose by 38.0 percent.”