The Cook Islands is special, beautiful
Visitors just love it

The Love Island. Your Imagination Destination. All Flights of Fancy Welcomed Here. Live Differently.
No matter how you pitch it, the underlying message is the same: Come to our island. Spend your money. Have a wonderful time. Come back soon and bring all your friends.
Tourism is the lifeblood of the Cook Islands. Without those visitors – whose numbers achieved the record-setting milestone of 100,000 in 2009 – this could very well be a ghost town, populated by little more than wandering dogs and feral chickens.
Health, education, roads, infrastructure – the bulk of their funding comes from the dollars, greenbacks, euros and yen left behind by those camera-toting, sunburned hordes.
It’s a good thing then that tourism appears to be thriving, as we discovered after interviewing several of the major players in the industry.
The Government Agency
As the official body charged with sending the “Kia Orana” message to the world, the Cook Islands Tourism Corporation understands complacency is not an option.
“Tourism is the biggest industry here, so we really need to think smart and clever about the products we have on offer,” says acting CEO Glenda Tuaine. “You must always keep yourself ahead of the curve.”
That approach includes a shift in advertising focus away from print to concentrate instead on the internet.
“We are attracting people while they sit at work on their computers,” Tuaine says. “Research tells us that a lot of people search for travel while they’re at work. As opposed to working.
“We want them to dream about the Cook Islands while it’s snowing outside. Perfect.”
Other marketing ploys include manning a booth at the Shanghai World Expo in May, where the Cook Islands will be showcased to an emerging Asian market.
“It’s an opportunity for us to promote the Cook Islands to a really broad and vast international market,” Tuaine says.
There is a groundswell of excitement throughout the entire tourism sector about the weekly direct flights from Sydney, commencing July 4, along with the direct flights from Christchurch, set to begin July 23.
“The potential to be able to increase visitation is a real prospect for us in the coming two years,” Tuaine said.
While the sun and sand will always prove a magnet for visitors, the Cook Islands is also being heavily promoted as the go-to destination for romantic and family vacations.
“We do weddings and honeymoons incredibly well,” says Tuaine. “We’re also great for repeat visitations, and that’s what we want; that’s why we target the families. If they’re a toddler when they first come here, we want them to come back as a teenager, as an adult and a grandparent.”
As for the toll increasing visitor numbers take on Rarotonga’s infrastructure, Tuaine says it’s crucial that all Government departments work together to address the issues of sustainable tourism.
“At the end of the day, this is our home,” she says. “We have to make sure that tourism works in synergy here, that is doesn’t obstruct or work against what our community needs.”
Tuaine says everyone on the island can aid the tourism cause, simply by being their friendly selves.
“That is our nature anyway,” she says. “It’s not a turned-on thing for any visitors. The trademark of the Cook Islands is that we’re a very relaxed and very friendly people.
“That has no dollar value. That’s invaluable.”
The Tour Operator
Forget the other Pacific islands, says Turama Pacific Travel Group general manager Teresa Reed. When it comes to value for money, this country stands above the others.
“The Cook Islands is truly unique in all the world,” she says. “It’s a place where people love to come. We have a 90 per cent ratio of satisfaction.”
The key, Reed says, is to maintain that high standard.
“To keep that going, we need to be very sure about our tourism and how we plan it and how we develop it,” she says.
Reed likes the ongoing focus on weddings.
“That is a growing market,” she says. “People come here in large groups now to be married and I think that will continue. But I think we need to be careful we don’t go out there and overprice ourselves.”
As for the question of infrastructure, Reed fears we’re reaching the breaking point.
“We have to get everyone on the bandwagon,” she says. “To step up and conserve, to separate your waste items. Those are very important issues and, if we don’t do that, then we are going to have a problem.”
Overall, Reed says the tourism situation in the Cook Islands is “very good, compared to the rest of the world. In 2009, we had a record year. We’re hoping for the same in 2010.”
The opening of the Australian market, via the Sydney flights, will go a long way to raising those numbers.
“We’re looking forward to the Australian tourist,” Reed says. “They do spend more money, from statistics that we’ve seen, and that’s what we need. “We need an influx of money in this island, to keep our stores going, our restaurants going, our takeaways going.
“Those are the things we need to keep thriving, and I think that’s what will happen.”
The Accommodation Operators
Considering how crippled other countries were by the worldwide recession, the Cook Islands emerged relatively unscathed.
Dorice Reid says it all comes down to our point of difference over other holiday destinations.
“The Cook Islands is special,” says Reid, the managing director of Little Polynesian Resort in Titikaveka. “The Cook Islands is unique. The Cook Islands is beautiful.”
Reid says tourism touches everyone on the island.
“The Cook Islands right now cannot do without tourism,” she says. “We certainly couldn’t survive without it. And, if we were to survive, it would not be in the comfort we’ve known in the past.”
She’s eager for the Sydney flights to begin because Australia is a huge market to tap into.
“Australia has the potential to lift our tourism to much greater heights,” she said. “That flight will also allow us to move into Asia, to move into Europe.”
Chris McGeown agrees that the direct flights from Australia are good news for the Cook Islands, but cautions that it’s going to take more than easier access to create success. Creating the right marketing strategies is equally important.
“Properties can do all they can working with wholesalers to promote their property to the Australian market,” says McGeown, the general manager of The Edgewater Resort & Spa. “But it does need a boost from a destination marketing perspective. There are some plans in place; it’s getting the funding, though, from Government.”
Marketing romance is already a big part of The Edgewater’s strategy, as it hosts more than 100 weddings each year. Families are also important for business, which is why the resort is in the process of launching a kids’ club.
“We see that as boosting the opportunities for families to come here,” McGeown says.
With such fierce competition from such destinations as Fiji and Samoa, McGeown says our point of difference is how everyone on the island, his staff included, are natural ambassadors for the country.
“It’s awesome how Cook Islanders make the guest experience different from other destinations in the South Pacific,” he says. “The guests just love it.”
“It’s very important that we have tourism here in the Cook Islands,” says Tuaini Fatiaki, hotel manger for Aquarius Rarotonga, located across from the airport. “It brings in revenue that helps all businesses succeed.”
The visitor experience extends past those directly involved in the hospitality industry, she says.
“It’s our people, how friendly they are. You can be anywhere and a smile and great service, that is the main thing that really pushes our tourism.”
The Airline
In terms of the Pacific islands, Rarotonga is still Air New Zealand’s No. 1 destination.
“Without a doubt, it is a shining light for Air New Zealand,” says David Bridge, the airline’s manager for the Cook Islands. “It’s been a very successful partnership.”
That’s good news indeed because, without the services of Air New Zealand and Pacific Blue, it would be an awfully long swim for tourists to reach our shores.
From the airline’s perspective, Bridge says attaining the 100,000 mark in tourist numbers was encouraging.
“It’s set the bar and I think it’s onwards and upwards from there,” he says.
While the flights from Los Angeles are a bit soft these days, Bridge says the airline is keen to see the Sydney route become a success.
“And part of that success, obviously, is strong marketing in Australia and I understand the Tourism team is working on that,” he says. “It’s crucial that we grow the numbers.”
Bridge understands how the strain a higher number of visitors will put on the island and its infrastructure and says the challenge now is to increase and improve the existing systems.
“I think we’ve also got to focus on being an environmentally-focused destination,” he says. “That will draw people in as well. Everybody’s got a bit of an environmental head on these days and it’s a lovely place, Rarotonga: unspoiled. So let’s not spoil it anymore and get the infrastructure right.”
Bridge says Air New Zealand’s next timetable, which commences at the end of this month, will see its flights adding an extra eight per cent capacity. Some weeks, he said, will feature a mix of five wide-bodied jets coming in and out.
“That’s exciting news,” he says. “It’s onwards and upwards for the Cook Islands.”