The Beautiful Samoa Australian Roadshow has wrapped up in Brisbane this week, after earlier stops in Melbourne, Adelaide and Sydney gave Australian travel advisors a chance to reconnect with the South Pacific destination’s tourism trade.
Record turnout across four cities
Samoa Tourism Authority Sales and Marketing Representative for Australia, Aniva Tuiletufuga-Nickel, told Travel Monitor the 2026 series drew record numbers of attendees. The evening events, held in Melbourne on 7 September, Adelaide on 8 September, Sydney on 9 September and Brisbane on 10 September, gave advisors the opportunity to connect with 18 different Samoan operators and tourism representatives to strengthen their destination knowledge and learn more about the products and experiences on offer across the islands.
A number of lucky attendees also won prizes during the roadshow, giving them the chance to experience Samoa for themselves. Travel advisors said the events were a valuable way to refresh their knowledge of Samoa and build stronger destination recommendations for clients.
A growing focus on the Australian trade
Speaking at the events, Samoa Tourism Authority Chief Executive Officer Niumata Kitiona Pogi said, “Face-to-face roadshows remain an important part of destination trade engagement.”
He added that the format let tourism partners present product developments directly and gave advisors the chance to ask questions relevant to their own clients, and said the 2026 series underlined Samoa’s ongoing focus on the Australian market and the role frontline sellers play in converting destination interest into bookings.
Australian arrivals holding steady as second-largest market
Australia remained Samoa’s second-largest visitor market in 2025, according to the Samoa Bureau of Statistics, delivering 44,967 visitors, or 24.6 per cent of the year’s total 183,147 visitors, behind New Zealand’s 88,406, or 48.3 per cent. The Australian total was down 3.4 per cent on 2024. Into 2026, Australia has held its number two position: Samoa Bureau of Statistics data for the second quarter of 2026 recorded 10,392 Australian visitors, or 21.6 per cent of the quarter’s total, a slight year-on-year dip of 102 travellers even as Samoa’s overall visitor numbers grew almost 7 per cent for the quarter.
The roadshow builds on a broader push to grow the Australian market throughout 2026, including April’s Samoa Tourism Exchange, the destination’s flagship B2B event, which recorded a 200 per cent jump in Australian delegate numbers this year.
