In the last three months, the Pacific Tourism Organisation’s Marketing Team has made strides in its digital transformation project and further laid the groundwork for the South Pacific Tourism Exchange that was held last month.

Exciting news from the Pacific Tourism Organisation (SPTO) in 2023! The SPTO Marketing Team has been busy working on a variety of projects and initiatives aimed at promoting tourism in the Pacific and providing high-quality training opportunities for industry professionals. Here are the latest updates:

South Pacific Tourism Exchange (SPTE) in Christchurch, New Zealand
The South Pacific Tourism Exchange (SPTE) took place two weeks ago on May 12th and 13th at the Air Force Museum of New Zealand in Christchurch, New Zealand. The SPTO Marketing Team had put in considerable effort to finalise all aspects of the event, ensuring that buyers and sellers had everything they needed to make valuable connections and promote their businesses.

Digital Marketing E-Learning Modules
One of the SPTO Marketing Team’s key projects this year is the development of digital marketing training modules, which will be made available to the travel trade for free later in the year. The Trove Tourism team (Consultants) kicked off this initiative with SPTO on February 27th and is already ahead of schedule, with the Research Review Report delivered in March. The modules will cover a wide range of topics, including SEO, social media, Google Analytics, email marketing, website strategy, paid search, and paid social media marketing. The team is tentatively planning to develop the training in two waves, with completion expected in early June.

Digital Systems Review and Technology Stack
This activity is focused on developing a standardised software stack for National Tourism Organisations (NTOs) in the Pacific, with the goal of filling software gaps and ensuring that all NTOs have access to the same core digital technology. The consultant team (Trove Tourism Development Advisors) held the project kick-off meeting with SPTO on February 27th and delivered the Research Review and Report in March. The team will soon be interviewing and surveying each NTO to understand more on their software needs. This report will include a detailed review of digital platforms, including social media analytics tools, image libraries and email delivery software, and will provide recommendations appropriate to SPTO and each cluster of NTOs (Constrained, Ambitious, and Proficient). The goal is to procure a common ‘Technology Stack’ on a cost-share basis with NTOs, which will allow for consistent reporting across the region.

PSSP Modules
The Pacific Storytelling Specialist Programme (PSSP) is a premier certification program for travel advisors and media professionals who work or would like to work in the Pacific (or, for the Pacific). The SPTO Marketing Team is working to revamp the PSSP training modules and held the kick-off meeting for this activity with the Trove team on February 27th. The new training modules will be launched in late July.

Pacific Content Strategy Coaching Sessions
Following the launch of the Pacific Content strategy last year, the SPTO Marketing Team held the first of many quarterly coaching sessions with 20 regional NTOs. The goal of these sessions is to provide coaching on social media, digital, and content marketing challenges, as well as to check on the implementation of the content strategy. The next quarterly coaching sessions is planned for Quarter 2.

Learning Management System (LMS)
Finally, SPTO has implemented a Learning Management System, Tovuti, which will be rolled out across all of the training programs mentioned above. This consolidated training system will provide a more streamlined and effective way to deliver training to industry professionals.

Overall, the SPTO Marketing Team has been busy developing a variety of projects and initiatives aimed at promoting tourism in the Pacific and providing high-quality training opportunities for industry professionals.