Samoa’s tourism sector would need a $200 million cash injection to enable operators to refurbish their properties to bring them up to competitive standards before the borders reopened.

That is the view of the Samoa Hotels Association (S.H.A.) President, Tupa'i Saleimoa Vaai, when he was asked to comment on the plea by local tourism proprietors for more funding to prepare their facilities prior to the reopening of the country’s borders.

He said the S.H.A. had proposed a $200 million cash injection to enable all local operators to refurbish their properties.

“To answer your question, I would agree with the sector (in their appeal for more funding),” Tupa'i told the Samoa Observer.

“We had proposed as an association for $200 million tala as that is what we know will help the properties refurbish to the expected and competitive standards.”

A $5 million tala stimulus package assistance, according to Tupa'i, was the first assistance the sector received from the Government after the COVID-19 pandemic forced the closure of Samoa’s international borders in early 2020.

“In saying that, the money the tourism properties received from the $5 million tala stimulus, was the first tangible assistance we had received since the COVID-19 pandemic and so we are very grateful to the Government for helping the properties.”

The uncertainties connected with the COVID-19 pandemic and its effects on the closing or reopening of Samoa’s borders is another challenge for operators, added Tupa'i.

“However, we have to be mindful now because the uncertainties of the borders opening or not, may also mean that if we get more money and the borders do not open, then the hotels, resorts and beach fales will sit there and will need further renovations later.”

Currently, the S.H.A. is working on a proposal for the Government, which Tupa'i said would include a recovery period prior to the borders reopening, where the sector would be given funding to refurbish their properties so tourists would not be disappointed in Samoa as a destination.

“We were told that the borders would open in January then again we were told they would open in June – now we are told that it might be August,” he said. 

“That is why we as operators need to find strategies to lure the Government into supporting the properties financially when there is certainty in the borders being opened.”

Discussing the impact of the pandemic on tourism in Savai’i, Tupa'i said some resorts stayed open, but it was the beach fale operators who suffered the most.

He said income from domestic travellers based in Upolu sustained the operations of some operators in Savai’i but the revenue could not pay for maintenance.

The Vaimoana resort which Tupa'i owns was one of those that stayed open in Savai’i, but he said he could only retain 50 per cent of his staff, with the rest joining the seasonal worker program abroad. 

“Letting half my workers go to do seasonal work was something we agreed on for the benefit of their own families,” he said.