Samoa Tourism celebrates Earth Day and prepares for resumption of international travel

Samoa Tourism is celebrating Earth Day with the rest of the world on the theme ‘Restore our Earth’, while with no official date having been announced for a travel bubble with Samoa, the Samoa Tourism Authority is nonetheless preparing for international travel to resume.

As a Pacific Island and being most vulnerable to the impacts of climate change, Samoa continues to do their part in protecting and caring for the environment.

• In 2019 Samoa imposed a ban on single use plastic bags.

• Samoa is in the final stages of the ‘2 Million Tree Planting’ campaign.

• Samoa is on track to meet its goal of running on 100% renewable energy by 2025.

Earth Day is an annual event held on 22nd April to demonstrate support for environmental protection. First held in 1970, it now includes a wide range of events coordinated globally by EARTHDAY.ORG including one billion people in more than 193 countries.

The Samoa Tourism Authority is also preparing for international travel to resume with the following:

COVID-19 vaccine update

• The vaccine has arrived and a vaccination drive is underway with priority given to boarders and health care officers.

• The Government through the Ministry of Health is running an awareness campaign to encourage the population to get vaccinated.

App development

• To prepare the destination to be travel-ready, the Government is developing its own version of the COVID Tracer App that is similar to Australian and New Zealand Apps, utilising Bluetooth capability to track infected people and their close contact.

• The App will also feature local deals (at restaurants, hotels, and other hospitality services) that visitors can enjoy to further enhance the Samoa experience, including factsheets and imagery as well as downloadable maps, brochures, sample itineraries.

• It will provide geo-targeting functionality, for example, to pinpoint where you are in relation to attractions, places of interest, restaurants, bars, and others.

• In addition, the App will also help navigation around the island in terms of what to do, where to visit, etc.

Google street view

• Work is underway to have Samoa included as part of Google’s Street View platform, which will allow people to be able to zoom in from Google Maps and be able to see a panoramic view of a location of interest, right down to the street level.

• Benefits include being able to see a resort and its surroundings in order to get a feel of the property, as well as allowing visitors a much more accurate Google Maps GPS when driving around Samoa (which now enjoys over 90% mobile phone coverage).

Images courtesy of Samoa Tourism Authority