The 4th annual, Tahiti Travel Exchange was held on November 15th 2007 at the Sofitel Tahiti Resort. Welcome speeches by Jacques Teheiura, GIE Tahiti Tourisme’s Chairman of the Board, and Marc Collins, Minister of Tourism and Air Transport opened the full-day training event for the attendees.

Tahiti Tourisme North America presented an in-depth workshop presentation qualifying the attending travel agents for TTNA’s Tiare Agent Specialist Program. Simultaneously, the tour operator partners and local suppliers from the islands of Tahiti participated in a mixer, offering them the opportunity to meet one-on-one.

Following the workshop presentation, thirty-one suppliers presented their hotels, resorts, dive shops, spas, activities and cruise products to the travel agents with one-on-one rotations. Over 100 North American based travel agents attended, with 13 escorts from the following 10 tour operator partners:

• Brendan Worldwide Vacations
• Classic Vacations
• GoGo Worldwide Vacations
• Islands in the Sun
• Pacific Holidays
• Pleasant Holidays
• Tahiti Legends
• Tahiti Vacations
• Travel Impressions
• Voyages Cassis
  

The Sofitel Tahiti Resort organized several different experiences for the travel agents and industry partners to immerse themselves in the Polynesian culture.

One of the highlights of the day’s events was the opportunity for the agents to experience a traditional Tahitian Ahima’a. The Sofitel Tahiti Resort arranged for a ceremonial blessing of the Ahima'a, or underground oven, by a Tahitian Priest. Other highlights of the day’s events included the opportunity for the agents to experience the traditions of Tahiti by showcasing handmade crafts by the local “mamas”, tattoo artists, and Tahitian fire dancers.

Each tour operator partner and their hand selected travel agents participated in either a pre or a post familiarization trip. Each fam trip visited several of the islands which included hotel site inspections, land and sea activities, and the opportunity to experience the local culture.

The 4th annual Tahiti Travel Exchange was organized by Tahiti Tourisme North America with the assistance of GIE Tahiti Tourisme, Papeete. The Sofitel Tahiti Resort was essential in creating this full-day event. In particular, a huge thank you to Lisa Daviet, Stephane Sonnet and Aziz Benzefould of the Sofitel / Accor team based at the Sofitel Tahiti Resort. Air Tahiti Nui was also instrumental in securing a very favorable airfare for the travel agents and suppliers. A special thank you is in order to the invaluable assistance of Air Tahiti Nui’s LA based Dennis Gartner.

We would like to extend a huge mauru’uru roa to our head office and all of our partners for their assistance in creating an amazing full-day event and the opportunity to showcase our unique islands to the North American travel agents.

We look forward to next year’s Tahiti Travel Exchange and the opportunity to share the beauty, products, and experiences of our diverse islands with the North American based travel industry. We value your feedback!

We encourage all of our partners to send emails to feedback@tahiti-tourisme.com with any comments or suggestions on the Tahiti Travel Exchange or any of our other programs and initiatives.