Last year Tonga hardly got a mention in retail advertising and it was way off the track for wholesalers to offer much of anything Tonga. Now this year things have changed. Firstly whenever there are adverts featuring South Pacific offerings, there is a good chance that Tonga will be featured. Why is this, and why the sea-change over last year, or previous years?

Firstly, New Zealand Aid last year promised a large chunk of Aid to Tonga in an effort to bolster the resurgence of the industry. The two opposing sides of the Tonga tourism industry - the government organisation which was the official tourism body and the TTA or the (Tonga Tourism Association) who was the unofficial organisation compaosed of private industry (who had little faith in the official government body), had made up and agreed to come together under the Kingdon of Tonga brand.

Once joined, they had in the first hand invested in a digital campaign that brought very interesting and encouraging results over the winter last year, primarily through yahoo digital. This was the launching pad for a broad based campaign in May and June of this year that targetted consumers through billboards, 23 in metropolitan Auckland, and a campaign of 15 and 30 second advertisements under the "its true" brand.

Tonga had never really featured in retail travel in New Zealand because no one had ever really bothered to go to the trade and say "hey, we dont have plush resorts like everyone else, but we do have a lot to offer the tourist and good honest accommodations."  They had had the odd roadshow in NZ and had spent a few dollars with cocktail parties for a few retailers in places like Hamilton, Tauranga and Auckland, but nothing really 'hand on heart' seriously pushing product and services.

The departure surveys that have been going on for a few years definitely show that apart from a few who were looking for 5 star product, the acceptance level amongst travellers is really very good. If you want dacquiri go to Denerau, dont go to Tonga. But if you want a really enjoyable holiday that enables you to do things that are different, then Tonga is definitely worth the trip.

Over the past year there has been a concerted effort to put Tonga on the map. Activities like swimming with whales or just watching whales, and getting to places that are white and sandy but dont have a big resort close by, are starting to appeal to a wider audience. The travel trade in New Zealand now features much more product than ever before.

Now the travel wholesalers are featuring Tonga and the departure figures from NZ show that the year to May has produced 10% more visitors than the previous year. That is 18,380 visitors which is early days if you compare that with Fiji at over 100,000 per annum or the Cook Islands at 71,000.

It will be interesting to see what happens over the next twelve months.