Radio New Zealand - Te Reo Irirangi o Aotearoa

American Samoa Visitors Bureau wants local input for tourism plan

Posted at 22:48 on 17 November, 2009 UTC

The CEO of the American Samoa Visitors Bureau, David Vaeafe, is urging local input on the development of the American Samoa tourism master plan.

A team from RCA consultants, the company awarded the contract to develop the tourism plan are holding meetings with various sectors this week.

Speaking to the Chamber of Commerce last week, he urged members of the tourism sector to make sure their views are heard by the consultants who have arrived to draw up the plan.

He says he’s seen the kind of plan that can be written by people from outside the Pacific before.

“Because they have written a report about the Caribbean they think the Caribbean is the same as the Pacific. It isn’t. And that’s the difference. Samoa went through that stage. They went through producing tourism master plans that were that thick I used them as a doorstop, because it was actually ridiculous in terms of what it was trying to achieve.”

The CEO of the American Samoa Visitors Bureau David Vaeafe.