Pacific island nations' popularity on the Thorn Tree

Just had a quick count of how many postings each one received on their single country branches.

List, ranked from the most wanted to the seemingly totally unwanted, inside.

It does differ from rankings based on actual visitor numbers...

BTW, this region seems to be the only one on TT that still has empty country branches - and three of them! :-)

1. Fiji (140)
   2. Cooks (56)
   3. Papua New Guinea (53)
   4. French Polynesia (48)
   5. Tonga (31)
   6. Samoa (27)
   7. Vanuatu (24)
   8. New Caledonia (18)
   9. Guam & Palau (6)
   10. American Samoa & Solomons (4)
   11. Kiribati & Tuvalu (2)
   12. Marianas, Micronesia, Nauru, Niue & Tokelau (1)
   13. Marshalls, Pitcairn, Wallis & Futuna (0)
   
   Any thoughts?

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<hr>It does differ from rankings based on actual visitor numbers...<hr></blockquote>

You mean tourist numbers to the destinations themselves? Perhaps this is because the established, package holiday type places don't get as many people posting on TT -- they don't need to ask, since the travel agent has handled things for them. So PNG gets the relatively small number of independents who ask proportionately more questions, and why Vanuatu comes out even with Samoa, trading off the holiday popularity of the second against the need for info about a less popular destination of the first? Fiji gets both independents and resort types and so has the most postings overall.

Difficulty and cost of access to the region probably explains some of it as well (such as infrequent postings). I know that if I had more money I'd spend more time in the region -- it's not easy to take a short visit from Europe. So a visit at all has to be a major undertaking (such as slotting in a stop on a RTW ticket). Last time I planned on Fiji and Vanuatu, and after 2 months I hadn't gotten out of Fiji yet ... so, next time ...

Overall, it's better than the circus over on the Thailand branch, and what THAT implies about the nature of tourism in that region.

Here are the visitor arrivals. Guam, with over a million, gets a number of transit passengers as well as many Asian package tourists. Saipan (Northern Marianas) also gets a lot of Asian package tourists.

I was surprised to see that French Polynesia and Tonga both got more questions than Samoa.

Re the number of posts regarding Tonga.

Timing might also be a factor as well - I am sure that the November 16th "problems" in Nuku'alofa were responsible for a flurry of posts from both concerned potential travellers and for the entrenched Pacificophiles on this Board. Similarly, the short but spectacular employment of Harry Mudd at the International Dateline, as well as the death of the King reported on so well by traineediplomat means that many of the posts aren't necessarily "travel related", but fall more into the news / gossip category for both travellers and the regulars on here.

Cheers,

Rob

Actually none of Tonga threads on that branch seem to be connected to trainee or the king, and only one post is prompted to the troubles, another is posted by Harry. Most of Tonga's posts are genuine travel Qs, so their numbers are probably well-deserved.
The introduction of these separate country branches happened after the Tonga troubles, which seem to have been quickly forgotten.

I am actually surprised by the realtively LOW number of French Polynesia posts.
Sure, most people go there on packages, but it's still the 2nd most visited SOUTH Pacific country after Fiji, an easy stopover on RTW trips, offers lots of possiblities for independent exploring, and Tahiti may well be the single most famous Pacific island...

As for the relatively high number of PNG posts, I basically agree with oldpro.
Even though realtively few people go there, they are more likely to be interested in doing something interesting rather than just joining a package. Also, partly thanks to the poor quality of the LP PNG guide and the poor image of the country in the (mostly Australian) media, they are more likely to ask for advice from other travellers. They also seem to post more trip reports/photos than visitors to other countries.

I have long been surprised by the lack of any travel-related posts on the Federated States of Micronesia branch - the only post there is non-travel-related. But perhaps due to the air routings in the northern Pacific, the FSM is always combined with other Micronesian countries, therefore doesn't get single-country visitors.

Of the "unwanted three", I REALLY want to visit Wallis & Futuna one day! :-)
Did actually ask about fares there when in Fiji, but decided that 500 USD just to see Wallis was a bit too much.
Had to be content with meeting those colorful Wallisians on the Wallis-Nadi-Noumea flight.

On the RTW branch folks are advised not to stop in French Polynesia because it's not cheap. It seems to be much hated. Much disappointment that there are no beaches in Papeete. Plus there are several forums devoted to it.

FSM is very expensive to fly to. Just priced the fare from LAX to kosrae, $2400 USD RT. (May go there one day on Continental airmiles, just need 60K.)

Re Tonga.

Whilst the "Troubles" may have been forgotten by travellers, those going to Nuku'alofa will be quickly reminded by the wide open spaces downtown, which were once filled by busy, if rundown, shops and other businesses.

Meanwhile, many pro-democracy leaders are on trial for treason, charged with inciting or taking an active part in the mob destruction and looting that followed, and the cause of democracy appears to have been set back as most people concentrate on pro-survival, as they cope with massive job losses, an economy that has gone into serious reverse and a Central Bank which has reduced Reserve requirements to free-up liquidity for lending to try to get things moving again.

I would be really interested to hear what, if any, impact this is having on travellers, since there has probably never been a time when Tongans needed our tourist dollars more than they do right now.

Rob