Tahiti Tourisme North America is currently conducting an Integrated Marketing Research Study designed to provide an overall brand assessment of the islands of Tahiti. The brand assessment will include research and analysis of the product, perception, guest services, consumer expectations, price/value and positioning of the islands of Tahiti in North America. The Qualitative and Quantitative Research is being handled by the Travel & Leisure Division of Phoenix Marketing International and includes a wide range of randomly selected respondents to include the following:

· Travelers who have recently been to the islands of Tahiti.
· Travelers who have not been to the islands of Tahiti.
· Travel Agents (Tahiti Tiare Specialists and Non-Tahiti Tiare Specialists).
· Tahiti travel providers (Tour Operators, Cruise lines, Hotels, and Airlines).

Key elements in the research include an assessment of the awareness and perception of the destination, especially in comparison to competitive leisure destinations recently visited by the respondents. The research will identify the information and booking sources used by travelers for current and future visits to the islands of Tahiti as well as provide a demographic profile of Tahiti visitors.

The various phases of the research are ongoing with an estimated date of completion in August 2007.

Through survey and market research, organizations in the industry strive to predict and outline the profile and preferences of the travelers each year.

Vacationers from 2007:

• Healthy Vacations: In 2007, travelers focused a large part of their vacation on improving their health and wellbeing. Therefore, destinations with spas and abundant resources for outdoor activities are often preferred over others.

• Beachy Destinations: TripAdvisor’s annual travel trends survey found that 60% of travelers are planning a beach vacation, a jump from the 52% in 2006.

• Leisure Traveling with a Portable Office: The demand of leisure travel is increasing since tourists can bring their “office” with them without hindrance. While planning vacations and choosing accommodations, the latest technology (especially internet access) is a very important consideration for most travelers.

• Family Travel: Out of all subgroups of leisure travel, family travel is growing at the fastest rate. For this subgroup, it is the top priority to choose destinations and accommodations that are best equipped for children. Many see traveling as a way to reunite everyone in the family since everyone’s lifestyles are increasingly busy.

• Planning with the Web Communities: Most travelers turn to the internet as a crucial source while planning a vacation. The advice and thoughts of other travelers on websites such as TripAdisor.com and IgoUgo.com are a very important part of the decision making process for travelers.

• Environmentally Friendly: While eco-issues such as global warming are increasingly important, environmental awareness is affecting the tourism industry. More vacationers are looking at how eco-friendly destinations (and products) are, and then opting for the “greener” ones.

Consumers are increasingly concerned about the effects of global warming. It has become a trend to make decisions that has the least impact on our environment, and this trend has spilled over to purchase choices and, more importantly, to the tourism industry.

MSNBC forecasted that this year, even more “travelers will be renting hybrid cars, picking eco-friendly destinations and choosing zero-impact packages.” Sustainable Travel International, a non-profit organization whose mission is to promote sustainable development and eco-friendly travel, quoted that approximately 60 million Americans would choose travel companies that exercise practices that would preserve. 61% of those environmentally conscious travelers would pay 5-10% more to use companies that are “green” in practice.

Most organizations that try to encourage environmentally friendly practices struggle to tackle the widespread misconception that it is unprofitable to run a business while caring for the environment. In the long run, it is actually more profitable. Especially in Tahiti, where energy costs are much higher than that of the US, endorsing practices that use efficient and renewable energy will significantly decrease expenses.

Trends and research have pointed out that being environmentally friendly decreases operation costs, contribute to sustaining the environment, and attract a market of eco-concerned travelers.

We are very pleased to announce that we have uploaded the statistics from the Service of Tourisme onto the Partner section of our website. Please visit the following link to download the statistics: http://www.Tahiti-Tourisme.com/Partners

Statistics for the islands of Tahiti are now being handled by ISPF, the Institute of Statistics of French Polynesia (Institut de la Statistique de la Polynésie Française). We will continue to upload statistics once they are received from ISPF.

Spring Workshop Series

Travel agent registrations for the upcoming Workshop Series have been coming in fast and furious! Four of the twelve U.S. cities have sold-out with only three weeks to go before the first workshop!

From the four sold-out cities (San Francisco, Atlanta, and New York), the waitlists have already been closed as well. Maryland is also sold out, however the waitlist is still open at this point.

New Format! - Don't forget that we have changed our previously day workshops to evening workshops. All 2007 workshops will be from 4:30pm until 9:00pm.

We are thrilled with the participation numbers of both the travel agents and our Tahiti Partners and look forward to a very successful 2007 Workshop series!

Please visit www.Tahiti-Tourisme.com/WORKSHOP/ for more information.

Gay Life Travel Expo – Seattle

Representatives from TTNA and Radisson Plaza Resort Tahiti attended the Gay Life Travel Expo in Seattle on March 29, 2007. Traffic was steady throughout the evening. A large majority of attendees were interested in a vacation to Tahiti, most were very concerned with the gay friendliness of Tahiti.