Pacific

High airfares a challenge to tourism in American Samoa

10:47 am on 16 November 2009

The head of the American Samoa Visitors Bureau, David Vaeafe, regards the high air fares charged by Hawaiian Air as a challenge to attracting tourists to the territory.

Mr Vaeafe says there's a need to work with the airline to offer more competitive fares.

On the other hand, he says he believes the territory can reap the benefits of competition among other carriers flying into the Pacific.

"We just need to work better with our airline partners and so forth and look at increasing frequencies, increasing capacity at the same time offering incentives to encourage people to travel."