AUSTRALIA: South Pacific Tourism Organisation Launches New Website

Travelers interested in visiting the South Pacific are now able to access instant information on Pacific countries through the www.southpacificislands.travel site, launched at the 4th South Pacific Tourism Exchange in Sydney, Australia last month.

The new domain name linking the key words South Pacific islands and travel is the new home for the South Pacific Tourism Organisations (SPTO) revamped website reflecting the organization mandate as the regional agency responsible for marketing and developing tourism in the region.

The new look website has been developed in line with the new SPTO brand launched one year ago at the 26th Council of Tourism Ministers meeting in the Cook Islands reflecting the key message of “Ours is Yours’ which is also an invitation for the world to come and discover the South Pacific and share in what the region has to offer.

The website has also been tailored to meet the requirements of SPTO’s corporate clients in particular clients who work with SPTO to market the region to the world.

These clients will have access to the large database of accentuated Pacific images to assist them with doing their work, through the password protected area of the site.

The refreshed regional tourism website will strengthen SPTO’s capacity in a number of different areas, including regional destination marketing and servicing membership requirements and providing more information in the area of niche markets, SPTO Chief Executive Officer, Chris Cocker said.

It has been tailored specifically for the different types of clientele served by SPTO and we are excited that it has been launched and we are now live, so let us work together to make tourism happen in the region!” he added.

The site is expected to also boost the marketing efforts of SPTO member countries by providing visitors with access to specific pages on activities and tours available in the different countries and help them plan their trip by linking them directly to tour operators and destination websites.

The site has a specific portal for travel agents who choose to become South Pacific specialists where they can access training material for 16 Pacific Island destinations and for specific niche markets in the region. These niche markets include, weddings and honeymoons and diving.

Other aspects of the site include an interactive map of the Pacific with specific in country maps and links to all SPTO
Social media sites, as well as blogs on the region and latest news releases from SPTO.

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.

NIGERIA: Visa Free Countries For Holders Of Nigerian Passports

As a Nigerian citizen with a Nigerian passport, there are certain countries which do not require a visa or a visa-lottery upon entry so long as you have your Nigerian passport.

However, for some of these countries, there is an estimated amount of time you are expected to spend before a visa will be demanded for. The period of days for which you can stay varies from country to country and then you would have to obtain a visa, at least this is not like a gamble when you play the visa- lottery.

The easiest way to know the visa free countries is to list all the countries you may visit visa free is to split them into continents. In the Americas you may access Barbados for six months, Dominica for 21 days, Grenada, Haiti, Saint Kitts and Nevis for three months and Turks and Caicos Islands for 30 days.

In Asia you can freely arrive in the following countries to which you will then be issued with a visa once in the country. In Azerbaijan, Laos, Macau and Timor-Leste you are granted with a 30 day visa. In Bangladesh you are granted a 90 day visa.

In Oceania you may access Micronesia, Nauru, Niue, Vanuatu and Palau for 30 days, Cook Islands for 31 days, Tuvalu for one month, Samoa for 60 days and Fiji for four months.

In Africa Nigerian passport holders can visit the following countries visa-free; Benin, Burkina Faso, Cape Verde, Cameroon, Chad, Ivory Coast, Ghana, Gambia, Guinea, Liberia, Mali, Mauritania, Niger Senegal and Uganda, basically all the West African countries.

Please note that this posted was last modified on the 5th of March 2014. Kosovo is no longer visa free for Nigerians and many African countries.

You can also get visa-on-arrival in Kenya.