The Chief Executive Officer (C.E.O.) for the Samoa Tourism Authority (S.T.A.), Pativaine Petaia Tevita has clarified that the government did not spend any money to bring the 200 passengers on the first ever direct flight from China on Sunday.

In an interview with the Samoa Observer, Mrs. Tevita stressed that S.T.A. is only involved with the welcoming of the visitors from China as it's their role as the national tourism office.

"S.T.A. is not spending anything on this trip other than our contract with Travel Focus where they must pay the retainer fee to market Samoa in Asia but S.T.A. spends no money on this trip," she said.

"They have their own ground team handling the itinerary and everything and it's not our thing to take over the role of the private sector because this really is the role of the private sector.

"We're only here to welcome them just like what we did for the first few flights that have been coming in after borders reopened.

Samoa Observer understands that there are some concerns regarding the misuse of public funds in trying to bring in this direct flight from China specifically on a budget being approved by the Minister of Tourism, Toesulusulu Cedric Schuster.

Asked about allegations on an approved budget, Mrs. Tevita said there was never a budget proposed nor approved.

"There are many conflicting stories that I keep hearing about but us as a national tourism office, this is our role, to welcome people and we're supposed to be welcoming the visitors to Samoa and make sure they have a high quality experience," she said.

Meanwhile, the Travel Focus company is the current representative company for S.T.A. for the Asian market and is based in Hong Kong.

The C.E.O. said the tourism sector will greatly benefit from these flights as they will pour in revenues for the sector as well as Samoa's economy.

There are currently five direct flights from China that have been approved and confirmed to touch down in Samoa in the coming months.