Leave Samoa unchanged. That is the sentiment of two tourists who were on a vacation on the South coast of Upolu a little over a week ago.

Jordan Moore and Sarah Watts are New Zealanders who now reside in Australia. They have been to other Pacific nations for holidays but this was their first time coming to Samoa.

A friend of theirs was getting married in Samoa and they decided to travel a week earlier and enjoy a Samoan holiday.

“We love it. Samoa is so beautiful and Samoans are even more beautiful. I was just taken away by the friendly nature of the people here,” said Ms Watts.

“I would not change a thing about Samoa, keep it as beautiful as it is. The nature is lovely and the hospitality that was shown to us has been amazing.

“I would definitely be coming back again and enjoy the pristine beauty of this great nation and also the love that has been shown by the people.”

Samoa Observer caught up to the couple as they were enjoying a long walk along the villages in Aleipata some 10 kilometres away from their beach fales in Lalomanu.

“We just decided that we should take a walk and enjoy the sights Samoa has to offer. We don’t mind taking the long walk as there is so much to see,” Mr Moore said.

“We are sure that we will come back and hopefully it will be as enjoyable as it this time.”

The couple left Samoa last week and believes that the nation has a lot to offer tourists.

Visitors to Samoa’s shores in the first quarter of 2023 totaled over 30,000 with data released by the Samoa Bureau of Statistics (SBS) showing arrivals beginning to get to pre-COVID-19 pandemic levels.

International arrival and departure statistics released by the SBS on 02 May 2023 showed that for the first quarter of this year, a total of 30,136 visitors were recorded. However, the bureau said this was a decrease of 7.2 per cent over the previous quarter and an increase of 39.0 per cent when compared to the corresponding quarter of 2020.

Traveling into Samoa by air remained the most popular, according to the SBS report, as it was the most preferred mode of travel to Samoa and represented 95.5 per cent of total arrivals, while those that arrived by sea accounted for the remaining 4.5 per cent.

Visitors, including transit, made up the largest component of all arrivals with 33.1 percent (14,445) recorded for males and 33.0 percent (14,396) for females. Male and female returning residents made up 16.8 percent (7,333) and 14.2 percent (6,202) respectively of total arrivals while temporary residents made up 1.8 percent (765) for males and 1.2 per cent (530) for females.

In terms of visitors by country of usual residence, the SBS report said New Zealand continued to be the leading country in visitors’ arrival by country of usual residence and accounted for 46.1 percent or 13,886 of total visitors. Australia followed next with a distant 23.3 percent share (7,025) while the USA recorded a share of 8.0 percent (2,398) followed by American Samoa with a share of 7.4 percent (2,225).

New Zealand, Australia, American Samoa, and the United States of America constituted 84.7 percent of all visitors visiting Samoa while other countries rounded up the remaining 15.3 percent during the reference period.