The awards were put together by Cook Islands Tourism Industry Council in conjunction with Oceania Tourism Group with many local sponsors coming on line over the last three awards. They are held every two years and the process is completly independant of the Cooks, so there are no reasons to doubt the results and also it is a fabulous way to get good feedback from overseas specialists.

The incoming Australian Government will be without a dedicated tourism minister for the first time in over four decades, following Prime Minister-elect Tony Abbott’s announcement of his new cabinet this week (Sep 16).

Andrew Robb has been appointed the Minister for Trade and Investment, under which responsibility for T...

Too often, customer service is viewed as a department, a designated employee's job role or, someone else's responsibility. Because of this limited view of customer service, many employees are content to simply execute a series of mandatory job functions until the end of their shifts-blissfully unaware of the myriad opportunities forfeited to make lasting positive impressions on their customers.

To expand on this narrow definition of customer service, I'd like to submit my own definit...

Few things are worse for the traveler than nasty surprises.

Yet we keep traveling.

Not simply because we like to travel or because we must travel, but because we accept that the world is an imperfect place and the travel industry an imperfect business that likes, when possible, to get by on the bare minimum.

Nevertheless, there are some fixes that could be implemented quickly and cheaply that would make travel much more pleasant for everyone.

TripAdvisor has been applauded for agreeing to remove old negative reviews after hotels undergo refurbishment.

Steve Tate, chairman of Hotel risk management body CheckSafetyFirst.com, said the online travel reviews giant should be commended for reviewing its policy towards hotels which want to "wipe the review slate clean" after major renovations have taken place.

He said: "At the same time, it is vital that a robust method is used to validate these changes.

"Hotel ...

Chinese property developer Dalian Wanda Group says it can afford to spend as much as $5 billion every year to buy foreign firms or assets, underscoring the rising clout of the firm as it expands abroad.

Just weeks after completing its buy-out of British yacht maker Sunseeker International Ltd, Chairman Wang Jianlin says that he’s prepared to spend even more than $5 billion in a single acquisition if the right opportunity arises.

Wang, ranked as China’s richest ma...

We have been appointed to market in New Zealand the Royal Sunset Island Resort on Atata Island in Tonga. The Resort is on Tongatapu, the main island and is around 20 minutes by boat from Nuku'alofa, the capital.

The Sunset Resort is popular as a day trip for locals who want to get away for the day and have full use of the Resorts water sports, and popular with New Zealanders who's numbers have more than dopubled over the past year.

"Its appeal is in its authenticity which more an...

Parliament Translation Summary - DPM equals the Deputy Prime Minister
3 Sept 2013
 
The DPM Samiu Vaipulu returned on Saturday 31 August from a trip to China. He reported this on his visit to the House.
 

• Confirmed support of the PASO as well as ICAO in Bangkok, for Tonga
• Says the ICAO Director-General’s report was received and that they were satisfied the work carried out was in accordance with Document 9760 (Airworthiness M...

This is interesting in light of the NZ Government's travel advisory and McCullys sudden change of pace.

Posted at 03:31 on 03 September, 2013 UTC

A New Zealand travel agency says bookings to Tonga remain strong despite safety concerns with a new MA-60 aircraft flying domestically between Nuku’alofa and Vava’u.

The New Zealand government suspended eight million US dollars of tourism aid in July and issued a travel advisory against New Zealanders using ...

Wi fi battle

It seems to me that some hotel chains need to be hit over the head to make them understand a few things. Those that charge for Wi Fi have succeeded in sending their customers to the curb. Major cities are installing Wi Fi stations in their parks, downtown, and social centers, and it is FREE. Imagine that! You would think that hotels that still charge for this service would wake up and find a way to keep those customers in their own respective social centers.

So much for the survey of Americans that concluded the travel agency as we know them are on their way out:

Managing director Graham Turner said that while international operations contributed about $57 billion to pre-tax earnings, the Australian business was once again the mainstay of its full-year profit.

The company posted a 23 per cent rise in net profit to $246 million for the year to June. Sales increased in both leisure and corporate travel, leading to a rise ...

TV chef determined to show how superior food caught or grown in the Pacific is to imports.

At the airport in Samoa, I once saw an arriving family laden down with jumbo boxes of a well-known brand of fried chicken. Coming back to their native island, where the water teems with fish, where coconuts and other fruit fall from trees, where taro and g...

Excellent customer service is a byproduct of excellent leadership, and no one knows that more than those in the restaurant industry.

All small-business owners-especially in the food service industry-will tell you that their customers have changed in the last five years. If true, then doesn't it logically follow that the meaning of customer service has also changed in the last five years? So how do we effectively redefine the meaning of service in this digitally driven, faster-har...

Business travellers and holiday makers are voting with their feet; hotels with green credentials are reaping the rewards.

By Timothy Shivers

Despite our dubious 100% Pure claims, many of New Zealand's hotels are stepping up as key players in sustainability and environmental issues. Going green is the new standard for hotels, as they seek to improve their practices and answer the call of a growing environmental consciousness.

Recent data shows that a majority of business trav...

By Kyle Caldwell - www.Neighborinneed.org

The guy who fixes my appliances here in Atlanta is named Jerry. He is a marketing genius. I doubt he is aware of this, however.

Jerry is a quiet and unassuming man. He starts in the early morning and has been at my house fixing the stupid handle of my refrigerator at 8 o’clock at night. Jerry’s appliance repair business is slammed every single day. If you ask anyone in my neighborhood who to call, all you hear is “J...

This from Radio New Zealand:

The Chinese embassy in New Zealand says it is improper for the New Zealand government to make negative comments about the new MA-60 aircraft China gifted to Tonga.

New Zealand has suspended eight million US dollars in tourism aid to Tonga amid safety concerns with the MA-60, and has issued a travel advisory against New Zealanders using it.

A Chinese embassy spokesperson, Xing Yuchun, says Chinese and New Zealand civil aviation autho...

 The recent Fonterra contamination is unlikely to damage New Zealand's "100% Pure" image in the long run, Tourism Australia managing director Andrew McEvoy says.

Speaking in Auckland today, McEvoy said controversial events often played out bigger, or caused more sensation, in the country where they took place.

Other countries, including China, would still see New Zealand as a green destination, he said.

"I think New Zealand's clean, green credentials will outli...

Since I deal with the smaller properties of the hotel business, I shall concentrate on the loneliest person in our business that being the night auditor. I always make it a practice to come down from the room to talk to the auditor. You would be surprised at the wealth of information you can acquire just by talking to him/ her. When I started many moons ago, I did my share of night audits, and even though I found the shift difficult, it did provide a clear snapshot of the hotel business....

The common refrain in the business world today is that customers buy from those they "know, like and trust." The difficult part for many businesses is figuring out how to go about gaining that long-term trust.

According to a survey from About.com, 84 percent of customers say companies have to first prove that they are trustworthy before giving them their business. This is difficult for many businesses, especially those with policies that put them in direct conflict with customer...

We recently started a weddings business to augment our Tourism Marketing Group. Enquiries have been fantastic since we launched on the 20th of July and the specialisation in Samoa, Cook Islands and Vanuatu has been right on. The decision not to offer Fiji is an interesting one. Ask us about it!

The weddings site fits with our strategy to supply third party business to our customers and also to build our brand. The brand is an important part of future activity and represents a move forwa...