Samoa tourism steps out from the shade

0 Comments | AFP, August, 2007

MANASE, Samoa (AFP) — Samoa has palm-fringed beaches, lagoons filled with wildly coloured fish and jungle-covered hills but is only slowly coming out of the shade of better known South Pacific tourist destinations.

The number of visitors travelling to the Polynesian nation of 180,000 for holidays jumped 23.6 percent last year to nearly 41,000, still a fraction of the tourists who make a beeline for Fiji or Tahiti.

It has a particular appeal for those who shun the self-contained resorts which dot the Fijian coastline and it doesn't hurt Samoa that Fiji's popularity has declined since December's military coup.

The golden beach which fringes the village of Manase on Savai'i -- the largest of Samoa's two main islands -- is dotted with beach fales along the...