The Travel Bug 33

Issue 33 - November 2007

Vanuatu's First Ever Barista Competition

Vanuatu ’s first ever international Barista competition is attracting a great level of interest from Australia, New Zealand and New Caledonia. The competition to be held over two days, the 19th and 20th October. Chairman of the Vanuatu Hotels and Resorts Association, Mr Tony Burns, has been overseeing the event to be held in the grounds of Le Lagon: “Our best hope was to attract international attention and encourage local Barista entrants….we are amazed and rapt to get this level of participation for our first event!” The Vanuatu hotel association decided only back in June earlier this year that they had the chance to pull out all stops and organize a Barista competition to co-incide with the country’s annual Salon Culinaire.

“We have organically grown coffee from the island of Tanna, fantastic French inspired café’s and café lifestyle, and a generation of Vanuatu hospitality staff really looking for this kind of opportunity to show off their skills” continued Tony. Barista organizers have created two levels of entries, one for international competitors coming from Australia or further afield, and one for local Ni-Vanuatu citizens. Fully accredited international Barista judge, Mr Rob Forsyth will be flying in to Vila for the event and holding a week of barista jam sessions to set the mood. He will also be training local Vanuatu judges to international standards. The local Port Vila community is gearing up for a great week and it is anticipated the Vanuatu Barista championships will be an annual event. A dedicated web site has been established:  www.baristavanuatu.com (Source: south-pacific.travel + Poppys on the Lagoon 15 October 2007)

New Hotel Eco-certification for the South Pacific Region

Tour Pacific is one of the leading tour operators in Scandinavia for travels to the South Pacific region and a specialist in this sector. From November 2007 the company implemented a new internal certification program for hotels and resorts that awards their sustainable and environmental engagement. Tour Pacific has identified that at the present era, environmental performance is getting more and more important. That is one reason why Tour Pacific have started up a project to ensure the high quality of their tours and develop a responsible product range , said Mr. Lars Jonsson, Managing Director of Tour Pacific. He further added “this project should be a guideline for our customers and show that sustainability is important for us. But it should also support the sustainable development of the certain destination. The islands nature in the South Pacific offers incomparable experiences and has an important, unique recreation value”.

The certifications will be implemented in several steps, first at the Cook Islands. Lars Jonsson says “If we can implement the certifications on the Cook Islands successfully we will expand our project to all of our destinations in the South Pacific. Furthermore the program will be reissued in 2009. These further destinations are Fiji, Tahiti, Samoa and Tonga”. The certification looks at the water, energy, waste and washing management of hotels and resorts and is implemented through an internet based research. All our hotels that comply with the requirements will be labelled in our marketing says Mr. Tobias Kreuzpointner, project leader. For more information, contact Tour Pacific on e-mail: lars.jonsson@tourpacific.se or tobias.kreuzpointner@tourpacific.se (Source: Tour Pacific 14 November 2007)

Miss South Pacific Pageant 2007

The Miss South Pacific Pageant is scheduled to be held on Saturday 17th November 2007 in Apia, Samoa. The Pageant is an international event devoted to showcasing the talents and physical attributes of the contemporary pacific lady, synonymous with the beauty and the friendliness of the people of the Pacific. By nurturing personal attributes, leadership skills and grace under pressure, the event aids positive personal development and encourages pacific women to contribute to national and regional affairs and to advance in diverse fields.

As a prospective ambassador for the pacific, each contestant must bring to the event the essence of their respective pacific people and culture. The event helps to foster tourism and cultural promotion. In that unique capacity it serves to showcase the cultural identity and beauty of our pacific people with the objective of promoting to the international arena this wonderful region, the Pacific Islands. For more information, visit the Miss South Pacific Pageant website: http://www.misssouthpacific.ws/

Pacific Resort Aitutaki Voted the Best in Australasia

Pacific Resort Aitutaki, on Cook Islands has been awarded “Australasia’s Leading Boutique Hotel” and “Cook Islands Leading Resort” at the 2007 World Travel Awards ceremony held at the Leela Palace Kempinski in Bangalore India last night. On hand to receive the award on behalf of Pacific Resort Aitutaki at the star-studded event, held in India on November 2, was company director Shaun Grace. The event brought together hundreds of executives from the travel industry, high profile media and celebrities.

Now in its fourteenth year, the World Travel Awards are regarded as one of the very best endorsements within the travel and tourism industry. With thousands of votes cast by travel professionals from 167,000 travel agencies, tour & transport companies and tourism organisations in over 160 countries across the globe, winning a World Travel Award has become one of the highest accolades a travel product or organisation can achieve. Independantly hailed by the Wall Street Jounal as the "Travel industry's equivalent to the Oscars", the World Travel Awards are the most comprehensive and prestigous awards program in global travel industry today. (Source: Pacific Resort Aitutaki 03 November 2007)

Solomon Islands Accommodation Growth

The Solomon Islands Visitors Bureau has noted a 56 per cent growth in the number of accommodation providers over the past year. The SIVB’s records show at total of 109 accommodation providers in 2007, a big increase from the 61 operators that were recorded in 2006. The number of rooms also increased from 830 to 1238 while the number of beds rose from 1852 in 2006 to 2523 for this year. SIVB Information Office says the numbers are expected to increase further with the construction of new accommodation facilities in the Central Province. The Western Province had the highest number of accommodation providers at 36, followed by Honiara at 24, Rennell Bellona at 10, Central Province 10, Makira 9, Malaita 6, Temotu 4, Isabel 6, Guadalcanal 2, Choiseul 2 and Shortlands 1. (Source: Solomon Islands Tourism On-Line News Issue 18)

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