Representatives of cruise liners are looking for new ports to visit while a European based cruise ship is looking to expand into the Pacific region, according to American Samoa Visitors Bureau executive director David Vaeafe, in the agency’s second quarter performance report.

Vaeafe attended this year’s Mar. 10-14 Cruise Shipping Miami Convention in Miami, Florida. ASVB’s participation — for the 5th year — is as a member of the South Pacific Cruise Alliance (SPCA) showcasing the Pacific and meeting cruise line executives.

Together with Vaeafe at the SPCA booth were representatives of the South Pacific Tourism Organization, of which American Samoa is a member.

Vaeafe said group meetings were held with representatives from cruise lines such as Royal Caribbean, Holland America, Carnival Australia, Compagnie Du Ponant and the Cruise Line International Associations.

“The outcome was that all [cruise liners] were looking for new ports of call, with Compagnie looking at coming into the Pacific region for the first time in 2016,” Vaeafe said, adding that cruiselines plan their itineraries two years in advance.

Vaeafe also revealed that Royal Caribbean was looking at adding bigger ships in the next couple of years and Carnival was home porting a second ship in Sydney, Australia starting next year, and these events will benefit American Samoa down the line.

“Looking ahead, more and more ships are coming into the Pacific region and cruise lines are looking at new and innovative itineraries with consideration for home basing ship(s) in additional ports around the Pacific like Auckland and Fiji,” he said.

He also noted that the SPCA and SPTO discussed having the Alliance come under SPTO with SPCA membership driving the cruising strategy for SPTO. This proposal will be voted on soon by the SPTO board.

This year, American Samoa has 20 cruise ships calling into port and ASVB is hoping that more will visit the territory in the future. The Lolo Administration has been keen on pushing tourism development, including the cruise ship industry.

FIRST TIME EVENTS

ASVB attended for the first time two international events. The first one was the Discover America Seminars held Feb. 17 & 18 in Auckland and Christchurch, New Zealand and organized by Brand USA. Some 70 tourism representatives from all over the U.S. attended.

The format of the seminars included two hours of free flow booths and then a sit down dinner and presentations lasting no more than five minutes from each speaker. There were 150 travel agents who attended the event in Christchurch and 400 in Auckland.

“Feedback was very positive and my Powerpoint presentation was voted the best on both nights, with agents coming back to our booth at the end of the seminars to collect more brochure kits and ask questions,” Vaeafe said, adding that Discover America seminars will be annual activities on ASVB’s calendar each year.

The second event, in which ASVB participated for the first time, was the San Diego Travel & Adventure Show on Mar. 29 and 30. ASVB was in attendance to “test the market”, said Vaeafe, who added that the show was a huge success, with an overwhelming response.

He said that at one point ASVB nearly ran out of brochures during the first day and had to produce an information flyer for day two. Key points of interest for American Samoa at this show was the National Park of American Samoa and the National Marine Sanctuary.

The San Diego show is the last of a series of six travel shows, which included Los Angeles, Washington D.C., Philadelphia and Dallas. ASVB plans to attend all five series of shows next year because it will give wider exposure to American Samoa.