Maureen Furedi, Tahiti Tourisme North America’s director of incentives and promotions, headed to her native Hawaii for the PRIME trade show this fall, held from September 10 to 12, 2008, in Waikoloa, on the Big Island.

PRIME is a meeting industry event that combines pre-scheduled business appointments, site inspections of the various destinations, educational sessions as well as networking opportunities.

The overall booth traffic was quite steady with an estimated 110 visitors, but there was a great deal of interest in Tahiti and each partner had approximately 16 to 20 pre-scheduled meetings with interested planners. Joining TTNA in the booth were InterContinental Hotels French Polynesia, Tahiti Tours, Haumana Cruises and Legends Resorts Moorea.

The show resulted in great awareness for Tahiti as an alternative destination to Hawaii. Many incentive and meeting planners commented that they would surely consider Tahiti for future programs.

Tahiti Tourisme North America’s marketing and communication coordinator, Tina Karimi, headed to Seattle for the Adventures in Travel Expo, held September 13-14, 2008. 

The show was noticeably slower than the previous year in part due to the odd, beautiful weather. While our partners were unable to join us in our booth, we did have brochure support from Islands Escapes…by Goway, Pleasant Holidays, and Tahiti Legends.

The show offered an array of travel options to consumers and travel agents, offering Tour Operators, Travel agents and travel booksellers the opportunity to discover what is available in the travel industry. 

Many seminars were conducted throughout the event by renowned travel personalities that highlighted the best selling travel books and travel trends from across the country and around the world.

The presenters included Anthony Saba, manager of Goway Travel; Philippe Cousteau, founder, president and CEO of EarthEcho International, and Arthur Frommer, founder of Frommer’s Travel Guide.

According to Unicomm’s CEO John Golicz, Seattle is one of the largest media markets in the country with a high income population that is very involved in outdoor and leisure activities; this is a great opportunity to expand market share in Seattle, which increasingly serves as a main getaway to Asia and Pacific Region as well as for Canada.

Maureen Furedi participated in "The Motivation Show," which was held from September 22 to 25, 2008 in Chicago, Illinois.

She represented the destination with many of our partners including Air Tahiti Nui, Accor Hotels & Resorts French Polynesia, SPM Hotels, Resorts & Spa, Paul Gauguin Shipping Ltd., Starwood Hotels & Resorts French Polynesia, Tahiti Nui Travel, and Tahiti Tours.

The upgraded luxury booth design received positive comments from all partners.

The Motivation Show is the premier Incentive and Meetings tradeshow event in the United States, held in conjunction with concurrent educational sessions over a three-day period.

The overall booth traffic was slower than the previous year in part due to the current economic downturn as well as the concurrent seminars being held in the same area.

While there was good interest in Tahiti and Her Islands as a location for incentive programs, several incentive planners shared that they would hold fewer events in the coming years due to the current economic climate and client budget cuts.

DEMA is an international trade only event for the diving, action water sports and adventure travel industries.

The show includes more than 650 exhibits featuring the leading dive equipment manufacturer, travel destinations, Tour Operators, water sports apparel, and other dive related services. It also includes educational programs that provide retailers with the latest tools within the industry.

This year show was held in Las Vegas from October 22 to 25, 2008 at the Las Vegas Convention Center and was attended by Michelle Bartlett and Jonathan Reap from Tahiti Tourisme North America; as well as Dany Panero and Iotua Lenoir from GIE Tahiti Tourisme, Papeete and Bernard Begliomini, Tahiti Tourisme’s dive consultant.

Many Tahiti based partners joined our booth featuring Bathy’s Diving, Blue Nui Dive, Bora Diving Center, Haumana Cruises, Hotels Matai, SPM Resorts, Hotels and Spa, S.C.A Dive Centers, Tahiti Plongée, Teamanu Diving Center, The Six Passengers, and Top Dive. 

This show offers an opportunity to reach out to dive consumers with the help of the knowledgeable locals representing the Tahiti dive community. Many visitors were attracted by the Tuamotu atolls, which boast a rich variety of fish and corals.

At the opening of this event, at the Hard Rock Hotel & Casino, Body Glove and Sport Diver Magazine held the premier of “Drop Zone Tahiti,” a 45-minute movie that wonderfully showcased both surfing and diving in the Islands of Tahiti.

From the wave of Teahupo’o to the amazing shark and ray snorkeling experiences to the unique land-based adventures, the movie beautifully covers the wonders of the Tahitian nautical world, both topside and underwater.

The movie was very well received by the attendees and added to the excitement and interest in Tahiti and Her Islands shown during the tradeshow.

On October 25-27, 2008, Leila Laille, account executive for Tahiti Tourisme North America participated in the 6th annual edition of French Affairs to represent her country and the entire destination. 

This event was arranged by Maison de la France and is the premier annual meeting between French and North American tourism professionals.

The city of Chicago had been selected as this year' s site, not only because Chicago is one of America’s most impressive cities, but also because it is the third largest travel market in the US to France.

On Sunday, October 26, the event began with a networking and welcoming activity sponsored by La Baule Tourist Office. Then, all participants attended the opening session. The presentation included Maison de La France’s annual report for 2008 and marketing strategies for 2009.

The evening continued with one of the most anticipated moment of the French Affairs, the French Awards Ceremony where Maison de La France highlights the success of their most deserving Tour Operator Partners with 7 tourism awards.

This gala dinner was well attended and Tahiti was on the spotlight when Tahiti Legends, represented by its president, M. Alain Bernard, won the award for the ‘Best Overseas Offer'.

French Affairs is so much more than just an awards ceremony. It provides  an opportunity to discuss the various projects suppliers can undertake, particularly considering this year's challenges, and new  initiatives to prepare for 2009.

On Monday October 27, all suppliers were split into different workshop sessions: Cruising & Yachting in Europe, Commemoration Tourism sponsored by Normandy Tourist Board and Online Training and seminars. Then, they all gathered in one meeting room for a tradeshow followed by ongoing appointments to exchange ideas d and share with each other current and upcoming projects. Merehani Parker, sales and marketing manager for Tahiti Nui Travel and Bambi Bryant, senior director of leisure for Accor Hotel Group, were also in attendance to represent French Polynesia.

A few French wholesalers visited Tahiti Tourisme North America to request further information on niche markets such as biking and to express their interest in selling the destination.

This year, Maison de La France has expanded its invitation list and included travel agencies such as France Certified Agents and local Chicago area agents. In general, the event was well attended and well organized by Maison de La France.

The French Affairs 2008 is for sure the American meeting for French based-suppliers and North American vendors.

Congratulations to Jean Philipe Perol and his team at Maison de la France for another successful event!

MAST Travel Network is also known as MAST Vacation Planners and is the Midwest’s premier travel agency consortium and marketing network.

MAST includes more than 145 agencies based in the Midwest. The show provides programs and services that aim at increasing sales, greater profitability, and creating beneficial relationships between members and suppliers.

Tahiti Tourisme North America’s Taha’a native, Carmen Ostrea, attended this year’s show held in Northlake, Illinois on November 18th, 2008. Many partners were also exhibiting such as Classic Vacations, Down Under Answers and Travel Impressions. The show was very well attended and travel agents showed quite a bit of curiosity in Tahiti.

Overall it was a very successful show and was a great opportunity for the Islands of Tahiti to increase its visibility in the market place.

The Luxury Travel Expo is the only Trade event entirely dedicated to providing suppliers and agents a forum for dialogue and education specific to the luxury market. It continues to be one of the most influential luxury events in North America, instructing travel agents on how to promote and sell in the luxury market place.

Tahiti Tourisme North America’s manager of promotions and events, Michelle Bartlett, headed to Las Vegas to attend the Luxury Travel Expo held at the Mandalay Bay Resort & Spa on December 2 -3, 2008.

Tahiti Legends, Starwood Hotels & Resorts French Polynesia, Haumana Cruises, Radisson Plaza Resort Tahiti and Roa Yachting also joined us in our booth. The foot traffic was a bit slow compared to last year, but all travel agents who attended the show were qualified and very professional.

Some travel Agents who stopped by our booth were in search of detailed information to better cater to their current clients. In addition, a distinctive interest in our small cruise ships, including Roa Yachting and Haumana cruises, was clearly noticeable throughout the event.

TTNA’s new looking booth created a great deal of excitement among exhibitors, who stopped by our booth and took pictures of it throughout the two-day event.

Al Keahi, managing director of Tahiti Tourisme North America, recently attended the United States Tour Operator Association’s (USTOA) Annual Conference and Marketplace in Palm Desert, CA held December 3-5, 2008.

USTOA has remained the preeminent resource for identifying tour operators in the United States since shortly after its inception in 1972. According to a recent survey, USTOA companies move more than 11 million passengers annually, and account for an annual sales volume of more than $9 billion USD.

Over eighty percent of the attendees at USTOA’s Conference and Marketplace surveyed this year agreed that the economy is the #1 issue facing the travel and tourism industry in the coming year.

The Conference addressed several common themes in this sector. The main areas covered during the USTOA member workshop included the recent economic outlook, the growing importance of leisure travel in peoples’ lives, the evolution of the travel industry since WWII, the previous downturns, and how they were overcome, and the right timing for a turn around.

A Tour Operator panel was also part of the program where USTOA Tour Operators addressed current and future business trends from a global perspective and the initiatives that are required to work with more suppliers around the world.

The panel allowed several members the opportunity to address the current situation. The panel was well conducted, and allowed key players to raise the right questions as well as offer solutions to address the current state of the travel industry.

During the panel, Arthur Tauck shared with the attendees his perspective on the crisis. According to him, even though all Tour Operators are in competition, they should join forces to face this downturn by telling consumers that it is actually a great time to travel because of the availability of hotels, tickets, and restaurants. He also noted that over the course of his 51-year career, the current challenges the economy is facing, including the travel industry, are unprecedented.

USTOA was proud to report that there was a very strong turnout among their members in Palm Desert this year. Which undoubtedly illustrates the commitment these companies have to finding solutions for the current and future challenges that we all are facing.

 Signature Travel Network held its annual sales meeting on December 5-6, 2008 at the Mandalay Bay Resort & Casino in Las Vegas.

The conference had a record attendance of nearly 1,700 participants including over 600 supplier partners from all over the world. Signature’s 2008 show included 15 seminars related to client loyalty programs, river cruising, emerging destinations, the latest technology tools, destination training, optimizing customer databases, and consulting fees, to name a few.

While Michelle Bartlett was wrapping up the Luxury Travel Expo show, Jonathan Reap, Jeanine Cater, and Maureen Furedi attended the Signature Travel Network Show. Three workshops were successfully conducted together with Tahiti Legends during the two-day event.

Many partners helped raise awareness by joining our booth, such as Starwood Hotels & Resorts French Polynesia, Bora Bora Lagoon Resort & Spa, as well as SPM Hotels, Resorts and Spa.

We would like to extend a very big thank you to all of our participating partners for dedicating their time and efforts to raising awareness of our beautiful islands.