Growth and recovery is on the agenda for the Solomon Islands, from developing its telco infrastructure to bringing local tourism operators up to speed, according to Fiona Teama, Head of Sales and Marketing from Tourism Solomons.
During a visit to Sydney yesterday, Teama chatted with Travel Daily about the island’s slow development, as it works towards pre-Covid levels, when its visitor numbers were growing 7%-9% year on year and hit a record high of 30,000 in 2019.
According to figures released last month, the total international visitor arrivals for the first quarter of 2025 was 11,563, the majority of which was made up of Australians (28%).
For now, Tourism Solomons is encouraging more of its local operators online, as many of them rely on the organisation to promote their experiences and accommodation.
The NTO has taken a “gentle approach” in its ongoing discussions with local businesses about the benefits of tourism in regional areas, Teama explained.
“They’re very sensitive, so you have to be careful in the way that you talk to them about tourism and what you want to introduce in their communities,” Teama told Travel Daily.
“But we’re very hospitable people – once you explain it to them, they’ll understand and they’ll host you, but you can’t change the way they live.”
Teama described it as “a catch-22 situation” where she appreciates the economic benefits of development, but also wants to maintain the Solomons’ culture – it’s a struggle that other Pacific island nations face.
“Do we want to develop to be like Fiji? We’re not sure,” she said, describing Fiji as “our big brother”.
“Fiji right now is looking at Bali and saying, ‘No, we don’t want to get to that stage – we better protect [our home] before we get there’.”
As for the controversy around the links between China and the Solomons, Teama has also adopted a similar cautious approach.
“We’re hoping that whatever happens with the Chinese influence in our country, it remains at a managed rate,” she said.
“We’ve seen other destinations like Vanuatu introduce direct flights from China,” she said. “It’s a huge, huge market for any destination in the world, so if they’re interested in coming to the Solomons as a source market, it’s up to us to be prepared, to prepare our people and to know what type of [tourists] we want to visit.”
“We want to protect our reef, we want to protect our culture, we want to protect our trees. And we want those segments within that market to come and spend their money with us on a sustainable [level] so it goes back to the community.”
