Espiritu Santo Tourism Association’s promotional visit to Brisbane & Gold Coast

A total of 29 tourism industry operators from Espiritu Santo including 2 custom dancers and a 7 man string band travelled to Queensland in Australia to promote the northern islands of Vanuatu to travel agents and industry professionals in Brisbane and the Gold Coast. Over 83 trade and media representatives attended the Road Show held at the Mercure Hotel in Brisbane and 53 at the Holiday Inn Gold Coast event. The guests were greeted by Brenda Andre of the VTO in custom dress and ‘warriors’ who presented them with leis. They were entertained by custom dancers and the string band. Kava was served along with drinks and finger food and short presentations were given by Air Vanuatu and Espiritu Santo Tourism Association. This was followed by all the agents visiting the stands of the attending Santo operators, including 3 Ni-Vanuatu tour operators and talking about their products and services. Many of the Santo operators donated prizes for the agents to win in a draw held at the end of the evening. ESTA chairman, Dave Cross, stated that all the attending members of the association were extremely happy with the outcome and he’d like to thank and acknowledge the sponsors who made it possible. Air Vanuatu who were very generous with airline tickets both for the agents and the ESTA members attending plus financial support from ANZ and Westpac Banks, VHRA, VTO, Club de Sanma, Apex Hotel, Wilco Hardware and Airports Vanuatu Limited.