SAMOA: Promoting Tourism Unexpectedly

Samoa may see a rush of visitors this year after its tourism agency posted an image of a handsome man posing on one of the country's famously blue beaches.

Samoa Tourism posted the image of the man on its Instagram account last week with the hopes of enticing tourists to its islands.

“Is Samoa on your 2017 wish list? Discover the home of vibrant warm waters and sparking beaches,” the post read. The image (above) quickly attracted a lot of attention, with many tourists declaring they had added the country to their wish list.

“He the tour guide?” one woman commented.

“How much does he cost? Whoops, I mean the holiday,” another said.

“Ummmm. Didn't really notice the water. Way too distracted,” a woman joked.

“I swear this isn't the reason why I've always wanted to go to Samoa,” a woman laughed.

“Wow. Such a beautiful place. On my list. If only,' another person commented.

Prime Minister Tuilaepa Sa'ilele Malielegaoi said in a press release earlier this year that tourism has had a huge impact on the economic and social growth of the country.

“Tourism is the mainstay of our economy and we have selected to continue pioneering sustainable tourism, as we have stated in our tourism sector plan and vision that by 2019 Samoa will have a growing tourism sector.”

The man in the poster by the way is bodybuilder Ben Tamanikaiyaroi. The photo was taken a few years back.

One visitor said, Very good ad. More new and fresh faces. More of these ads/photos please to promote Samoa. Most Tourists want to experience something different and new. Not the same old experiences offered everywhere else. Samoa does offer unique experiences such as:

- Slower pace of life compared to city life. This makes the tourist appreciate life and question what is important in life
- Organic food and nature living - umu, plants and vegetation, fresh air, ava samoa, koko samoa, etc.
- Unique bus ride experience also the full buses.
- Beautiful and Friendly people
- Sandy and clean Beaches
- Unique Fale Samoa
- Not many other tourists around.
- Spiritual/Nature experiences. and Many more experiences.
- Here was my attempt to promote Samoa's uniqueness.