No trouble in paradise

Originally published in TravelWeekly Australia September 5, 2008

The untouched charm of Vanuatu is slowly reaching the mainstream, with a series of new resorts opening, reports Justin Wastnage from Port Vila

Vanuatu is gearing up to welcome plenty more Australians in coming years

The feelgood factor is something politicians are keen to foster heading into an election. So Vanuatu's leaders will be happy with the current upbeat mood in the Pacific archipelago, which was recognised as the happiest place on earth by the New Economics Foundation, a think tank. The mood was lifted further by Priscila Tommy, who has just returned from the Olympics, where she represented Vanuatu in table tennis, despite the country only having four ping-pong tables.

More importantly, the country's tourism industry (which ANZ Bank estimates to represent around 40 per cent of the country's economy) is booming. So no surprise that deputy prime minister Edward Natapei took time out of electioneering to address the Tok-Tok travel conference in Port Vila at the end of August. "Tourism has overtaken copra [coconut oil] as our main earner, so all the parties are strongly supportive," he said.

Australians account for around 60 per cent of all tourists, followed by New Zealanders and residents of New Caledonia, says Annie Naitu from the Vanuatu Tourism Office (VTO). The VTO expects 100,000 Australians to visit this year, up from 83,000 last year. It has a plan to double this in 2009 and reach 300,000 the year after, she says.

Wholesalers are taking the country very seriously as well, with 68 attending this year's Tok-Tok, up from 50 last year - and well up from a mere 20 a few years ago. They are drawn by a wealth of new product, says one buyer from Creative Holidays. Her Qantas Holidays' counterpart was scheduled to spend ten days visiting properties on several Vanuatu islands, while Infinity Holidays' buyer had two days of appointments with the new resorts and hotels that have sprung up in the past few years.

Naitu bristles (as much as anyone in this laid-back land does) when asked about the comparison with Fiji as a safe, family-friendly destination. Packages are cheap, she admits, but the culture of the native ni-Vanuatu people is alive and well, (in contrast to Fiji, Naitu implies). "Vanuatu is more authentic, more unspoilt," she says. With well-developed cultural tours, soft adventure activities and natural wonders, there is more to do during the day outside resorts, one wholesaler said.

But historically this has been compensation for less developed accommodation than Fiji's upscale resorts. This is beginning to change, says Tony Burns, president of the Vanuatu Hotel and Resort Association and also general manager of one of the country's top addresses, Le Lagon.

Sophistication is coming fast, he says, with accommodation choices following restaurants in moving upscale. The quality of the naturally organic meat and produce means it is almost effortless to create fantastic food, says Paul-Alexandre Bossy, head chef at the Les Alizés French restaurant that is a fine dining staple of Vanuatu itineraries.

New resorts are springing up not only on Efate and its capital Port Vila, but also on the volcanic beach island of Tanna and Espiritu Santo, home to some of the best dive sites in the world. Spreading the benefits of tourism outside Efate is also a key goal of the government, Natapei explains.

Testimony to the increased demand is the robust health of national flag carrier Air Vanuatu, which will soon have the youngest fleet in the South Pacific as it replaces older aircraft. The routes to Australia are the first to benefit, with a brand new Boeing 737-800 now flying down here since January, Malcolm Pryor, the carrier's Australian general manager says.

The carrier now faces increased competition, with Virgin's Pacific Blue announcing services from Sydney and Brisbane from December. In response, Air Vanuatu recently added Melbourne to its departure points of Sydney and Brisbane and is pleased with the results to the point it will add additional services, he says. "Victoria delivered a high proportion of our passengers even before the direct flights because it's an adventurous market. They've been to the Pacific before but they want something different and Vanuatu is largely untouched," he says.

But Vanuatu is about to get a whole lot more touched. The US government has donated US$7 million (A$8.2 million) for a road building project that will pave the entire highway circling Efate. Billboards announcing beachfront development opportunities in currently inaccessible locations may be a sign of things to come. Tok-Tok also welcomed its first ever delegation of US wholesalers, which could herald a rise in standards (and prices) if Americans start visiting the island chain.

Natapei says the growth must be moderated, not least to ensure the destination's unspoilt charm that attracts so many, is not lost. At the same time, tourism brings in welcome dollars. Meanwhile, the national Vanuatu interest in table tennis has swollen so much since Tommy's appearance in Beijing (and her gold medal performance at the warm-up South Pacific Games) that the government has pledged to spend some of the growing tourism receipts on buying ping pong equipment for every village if it wins the upcoming election. With peaceful elections to remind Australians that not all Pacific islands have coups, Vanuatu will be the winner, no matter who takes power.