Regional Marketing Meet Ends On High

Marketing Managers and Executives from 16 Pacific Island countries gathered at the Iririki Island Resort last week (Tuesday 24^th October) to attend the SPTO Regional Marketing meeting to discuss and endorse the marketing plan that will serve as the direction for the region in 2018.
The Marketing meeting on Tuesday also saw the participation of key guest speakers from Trip Advisor, Cherry Yielding, Pacific Islands Trade & Invest (PTI Sydney) and Fiji Airways on collaborative initiatives engaged with SPTO in 2017 and for 2018.
Now in its 5^th year, the meeting is organized annually by SPTO, the region’s peak tourism development and marketing body. Born out as in initiative of Marketing Managers from the Pacific, the objective has been to provide a better platform for SPTO to synergize its regional marketing strategies and discuss important matters with its Marketing Managers/ Executives from its member countries.
Items on the agenda included highlights of SPTO’s 2017 Marketing activities; Tourism trends for the Pacific; SPTO’s proposed 2018 Marketing Plan; Digital Marketing for Exact Targeting; SPTO and TripAdvisor’s marketing partnership; PTI Sydney’s support for regional tourism; and Fiji Airways partnership opportunities for 2018.
Other highlights of the marketing meeting included the emphasis from SPTO and member countries on the need to move from offline to online marketing and address opportunities in niche markets such as diving, fishing, medical tourism and emerging markets of China, South Korea, Japan and India. A major highlight from the meeting with the initiative to set up an SPTO Research & Statistics sub-committee as members saw the importance of statistics and research in tourism marketing for the region and individual member needs. It was agreed that the SPTO would provide a Board paper at the next SPTO Board meeting in Adelaide in April 2018 outlining a terms of reference and the nominees for this Sub Committee
The SPTO regional marketing plan 2018 was presented to the Marketing Managers and endorsed at the meeting, before it was tabled and approved at the SPTO Board meeting the next day.
 
About SPTO
Established in 1983 as the Tourism Council of the South Pacific, the South Pacific Tourism Organisation (SPTO) is the mandated organisation representing Tourism in the region. Its 18 Government members are American Samoa, Cook Islands, Federated States of Micronesia, Fiji, French Polynesia, Kiribati, Nauru, Marshall Islands, New Caledonia, Niue, Papua New Guinea, Samoa, Solomon Islands, Timor Leste, Tonga, Tuvalu, Vanuatu and the People’s Republic of China. In addition to government members, the South Pacific Tourism Organisation enlists a private sector membership base.
ENDS
For more information, contact:
Alisi Lutu, Marketing Manager
South Pacific Tourism Organisation (SPTO)
Email: alutu@spto.org or +679 3304177
 
(Source: South Pacific Tourism Organisation Press Release [SPTO] 30 October 2017)