South Pacific Tourism Exchange 2018 Goes To Adelaide, Australia

The South Pacific Tourism Organisation (SPTO) has officially announced the 5^th South Pacific Tourism Exchange 2018 to be held in Adelaide, Australia on April 12^th and 13^th, 2018.
This decision to stage the event in Adelaide follows feedback from participants at the 2017 SPTE in Sydney and member countries who selected Australia as their preferred venue for SPTE 2018 and indicated a preference for a continued alignment to the Australian Tourism Exchange, scheduled to be held directly after SPTE 2018.
“Adelaide is a new host destination for SPTE and encourages opportunities for the Pacific Islands to promote their destinations and products in this growing cosmopolitan capital of South Australia. Aided by the recently introduced direct flights from Fiji (Nadi) into Adelaide by Fiji Airways, we hope to see more growth out of this market into the Pacific region,” says Christopher Cocker, SPTO Chief Executive Officer.
The first SPTE was launched in Auckland in 2014 with all subsequent events held in Australia, Melbourne (2015), Gold Coast (2016) and Sydney (2017).
To coincide with the announcement, SPTO has developed a new SPTE (event) logo highlighting the new look and re-brand of the organization, launched in Cook Islands in October 2016. Mr. Cocker added that this new logo reflects the drive of the brand ‘South Pacific Islands – Ours Is Yours’ in crafting deep and meaningful connections between our people, our places and our visitors through the SPTE event.
In preparation for SPTE 2018, planning is already underway and much earlier, given that the event has moved forward to the month of April. In past years, SPTE was usually held during the months of May and June.
The SPTE is a B2B (business to business) regional tourism exchange that continues to be the most suitable platform for SPTO’s 17 member countries to showcase and market their destinations, products and services to the international travel agents under one roof.
SPTE is the largest premier tourism event for the Pacific Islands region. SPTE participants comprise of Sellers from SPTO’s 17 member countries (national tourism offices and industry – tour and transport operators, airlines, inbound tour operators, hotels, resort, lodges, activity and excursion providers) and Buyers from travel agencies across the world.
SPTE participants also include international travel media who partake in a designated media networking session where they engage with the SPTE Sellers.
Mr Cocker added that some of the key focus for SPTE 2018 is the inclusion of a wider variety of tourism products, especially smaller niche operators and new island destinations (such as the Micronesian islands) who would be joining in to meet the increasing demand for new products by international buyers. The event next year will also see the inclusion of more long haul buyers, specifically Europe, the Americas and Asia.
“SPTE 2018 aims to also encourage growth in tourism revenue and yield through increased business exchanges and also by solidifying and creating brand awareness and positioning within the international tourism & travel industry; whilst strategically using Australia, the major tourist source market for the Pacific, as the venue for SPTE.”
SPTE 2018 will be held in between two of the major tourism events in the Oceania region. The Fijian Tourism Expo (FTE) will be held from the 10^th to 12^th April and the Australian Tourism Exchange (ATE) on the 15th to 19th April. In planning ahead beyond 2018, the SPTE 2019 dates and venue will be discussed at the 2017 SPTO Board meeting in Port Vila, Vanuatu on 26th October, 2017.
More updates and information will be available on the SPTE event website www.sptexchange.org or by contacting the SPTE Secretariat on email spte@spto.org
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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.
 
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For more information, contact:
Alisi Lutu, Marketing Manager
South Pacific Tourism Organisation (SPTO)
Email: alutu@spto.org or +679 3304177