The Tahiti Specialist conference took place virtually in 2020 and 2021, and it was a welcome face-to-face return for the destination of a thousand islands which is hosting their certifited agents this week in Los Angeles. TravelPulse took few minutes to sit down with Noel Morrison, director of communications for the destination, to discuss what the destination has to offer, the relationship with travel agents and the Canadian market.
- Why is it so important for Tahiti to organize a in-person conference for your top agents?
Tahiti is a really special destination, says Ms Morrison, everyone has heard of it, of course, but when you dig in you realize that people's knowledge of the destination is very limited. To give you an idea, we receive as many visitors in a year as Hawaii in a week, and because of its very specific nature, the destination is very dependent on the work of travel agents. People who know the destination well, therefore we want to offer them our support by giving them all the tools they need to do their job well.
- What is the contribution of travel agents for the destination of Tahiti?
It is absolutely crucial, Tahiti is not a destination where travelers will book directly, it is a destination that must be sold by someone who knows it.
- What are you doing to cultivate this important relationship with the agents?
We hold webinars regularly to keep agents informed, virtual conferences until recently, and this conference in particular is specific to our certified agents, who have gone through the steps and passed their Tahiti Specialists certification process, we do this on order for them to meet the main suppliers and always give them more tools to better sale the destination and increase their sales.
- So, what's new for the destination of Tahiti?
Air France just added two new flights to Tahiti, so we now have five flights a day from Los Angeles, and Air Tahiti Nui flies direct from LAX. We were discussing with SFO to relaunch their pre-pandemic flights and they are now fully resume, and Air Tahiti Nui is launching a new flight from Seattle in October; this is great news. More options to fly to Tahiti!
- Tell us more about the Canadian market for Tahiti
We had a BDM based in Montreal until very recently, and it was a very important role for us that we are looking to replace, Canada is a very interesting market that we want to develop more. Tahiti is a complex destination, so our team is important, we invest a lot in our people. But otherwise, Tahiti is a perfect destination for Canadians, who are able to travel for longer periods than Americans. As this is a destination that is further out and more diverse, there are so many different islands to visit; we have noticed that Canadians take longer vacations and therefore visit more islands than Americans. It's really a tailor-made destination for the Canadian market, so we're going to develop that segment further, because it's a perfect match.
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