Solomon Islands tourism remains intact after violent protests
Tourism Solomons says its hotel and tourism infrastructure remains intact and unscathed after the recent major civil unrest.
Anti-government protests last month led to widespread looting and buildings destroyed.
About 200 foreign peacekeepers were sent from Australia, New Zealand, Fiji and PNG to help quell protests and protect property in capital Honiara.
Unrest was centered around Ranadi and China Town with dozens of businesses affected.
Curfew was recently lifted.
"The Solomon Islands now faces a long road back to its pre-Covid successes when we saw international visitation grow by 10% year on year from 2013 and we had a strong voice on the South Pacific tourism stage," said Tourism Solomons head of sales & marketing, Fiona Teama.
"There is no sugar coating the actual situation, we have to be realistic about the damage done to Honiara and the damage done by the unrest and we know we have a massive amount of work to do.
"Our priorities are two-fold – we need to regain confidence in our country as a safe destination for international travellers, and we also need to get ready in time for our hosting of the Pacific Games in 2023."
Teama said the Solomon Islands main tourism areas in the outer islands were unaffected by the protests.
"With Munda now in place as our second international airport, the world still has ready access to these outer regions."
"Regaining the volume of visitor numbers we achieved in 2019 will see our industry retaining its profitability and getting tourism back into position as one of the Solomon Islands key economic pillars," she added.
"But this is going to be an even tougher job that before."
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Editor for TravelMole North America and Asia pacific regions. Ray is a highly experienced (15+ years) skilled journalist and editor predominantly in travel, hospitality and lifestyle working with a huge number of major market-leading brands. He has also cover in-depth news, interviews and features in general business, finance, tech and geopolitical issues for a select few major news outlets and publishers.
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