Plan to eliminate plastic straws on Pacific island of Niue

To celebrate the launch of NiuePocketGuide.com

Niue Tourism is pleased to announce the launch of NiuePocketGuide.com, a comprehensive guide detailing what travelers can experience on the island. Over 300 information-rich articles are featured on the free online guide at www.niuepocketguide.com. To celebrate the launch of the guide Niue Tourism and the NiuePocketGuide.com team have made a commitment to start the process to eliminate plastic straws from the island by providing every hotel, bar, restaurant and café on the island with reusable metal straws.

Felicity Bollen, Niue Tourism Chief Executive says, “I’m delighted that travelers considering the South Pacific can read about what the island has to offer on NiuePocketGuide.com. Robin and Laura, who created the guide, have done an outstanding job documenting all the wonderful experiences visitors can enjoy; from amazing aquatic adventures including, diving, snorkeling, game fishing and whale & dolphin watching to the scenic costal tracks, golfing and cultural activities. They’ve truly captured the essence of Niue, which is a Pacific island like no other.”

After spending three action-packed weeks in Niue researching and creating content for the guide the co-owners of NiuePocketGuide.com wanted to celebrate the launch by doing something positive for the island. Robin and Laura have a commitment to promoting and supporting sustainable practices and realised helping end the use of plastic straws was an achievable goal due to the size of the country. They will provide the country’s entire hospitality industry with reusable metal straws which will help remove an estimated 50,000 plastic straws from use each year.

Robin Censure, NiuePocketGuide.com Co-Owner says, “Niue, like most South Pacific countries, is getting hit hard by global warming. They’ve shown a great proactiveness by making real changes in terms of sustainability. We support all their actions in this direction and will provide data from NiuePocketGuide.com to help them make informed decisions. We’re thrilled to work with them on this project to end the use of plastic straws on the island, which is just the beginning.”

The NiuePocketGuide.com is the latest in the South Pacific Pocket Guide series which also features online travel guides to Fiji and Tonga. The series founders also run the hugely popular NZPocketGuide.com, the largest independent New Zealand travel guide which receives over seven million unique viewers each year. The inspiration for the series was the discovery that “the number one barrier to people visiting the South Pacific is a lack of online information”, garnered from a survey of over 11,000 travelers[1]. Upon gaining this valuable insight, Robin and Laura decided to create travel guides to the South Pacific to ensure travelers have access to comprehensive and detailed information on the region.

Having traveled extensively throughout the South Pacific, Robin explains what sets Niue apart as a unique destination, “You simply have to look at the pictures on NiuePocketGuide.com to realise that

Niue resembles no other South Pacific Island. Being a raised coral atoll it features sharp rocky cliffs and views that possess a cinematic feel. If you’re after a real adventure with gobsmacking landscape and the most vivid sea-life, then Niue is the place for you.”

He adds, “Since the population on Niue is less than most small towns in New Zealand, the sense of community is incredibly strong and wait until you meet Niueans, it’s kindness on steroids. We also love the fact that everything’s so accessible with driving times rarely over 20 minutes, walks are short yet stunning and the sea-life access is easy. Although the scuba diving is incredible the snorkelling is also spectacular. With no natural run-off from the island, the waters are some of the clearest in the world, so just float and look down and you’ll be amazed at what you see.”

[1] 2018 online survey of 11,665 travellers (34% of respondents were from New Zealand with other countries including Australia, USA, UK, Japan, Germany, India, France, China)

For more information on the NiuePocketGuide.com please go to www.niuepocketguide.com

For media enquiries please contact:

Robin Censure, South Pacific Pocket Guide

• E: hi@southpacificpocketguide.com

Felicity Bollen, Niue Tourism Chief Executive

• T: +6427 232 3261 | E: bollen@mail.gov.nu

Lwindi Ellis, Raise Communications Director

T: +6421 433 475 |E: lwindi@raisecommunications.co.nz