In Samoa's battle for attention as one of the region’s top tourism destinations, Samoa Tourism Authority (S.T.A.) is counting on foreign travel writers getting the story out through their writing.

Two foreign travel writers Robin Gayraud and Laura Symonds were on the south coast of Upolu earlier in the week and were taken to Lalomanu Beach, the To Sua Ocean Trench and the Namu'a island.

The S.T.A. Senior Sales & Marketing Officer, Theresa Ah Kuoi accompanied the two writers together with the Content Officer Mariasole Tasi.

The quartet were recently in Savai’i but according to Mr. Gayraud, there was no sun on the big island so they missed the sunset and were hoping for more on the south coast. 

"We missed the great sunsets of Falealupo, the skies were often grey but we came to Lalomanu hoping for a grand sunset," he said.

They arrived just in a nick of time at Lalomanu and were greeted by a red orange colored sunset that closed the day. 

Ms. Ah Kuoi said the foreign writers didn’t want to waste the opportunity to take a lot of pictures.

"We got some very good photos,” she said. 

She also told the Samoa Observer that they enjoyed their visit to Namu'a as they had a great time. 

"We had a great visit there, and it was a perfect day for the writers and for photos," she said. 

According to Ms. Ah Kuoi the photos taken by the promoters can be shared with the operators and owners of the sites they visit. 

Ms. Ah Kuoi and Ms. Tasi were also seen rowing kayaks to the reef off the coast of Lalomanu beach alongside Ms Symonds, as Mr Gayraud took photos of the trio against a blue sky, and white wash waters. 

Guests and staff of the beach were watching them until Ms. Ah Kuoi tipped over in her kayak, leading to Iva Simi, an employee of the beach fale, swimming to her rescue.

A beach fale operator at Lalomanu, who spoke to the Samoa Observer on the condition of anonymity, said it is better to “guide” the writers and promoters and so long as the local people are also helpful.

"It is good to see this happening, and I think local proprietors should help too. 

“No use complaining about no money for marketing when we can get free promotions through these people. 

“I just hope they can also share their footage, especially the drone photos and videos because we can't afford drones."