Tanna Evergreen Resort taps into cattle farming

September 17, 2021 5:05 am | Posted in Business News | Share now TwitterFacebook

By Kizzy Kalsakau and Jason Abel

Tanna Evergreen Resort has ventured into farming.

Tanna Evergreen Resort owner, Meriam Numake, said that COVID-19 has adversely affected their tourism business, but they are grateful for the activities on Tanna over the last few weeks, in particular the National Week of Agriculture, which provided some income to keep their business afloat.

However, it is not sustainable, hence the venture into farming.

Mrs Numake said they have tapped into livestock farming and have maintained this for a year, due to the huge demand from farmers on Tanna.

The Resort has received more than 200 heads of cattle from Santo to their farm.

“We have secured land to cater for this project,” she said. “We believe it will sustain the hospitality and tourism industry.

“The cattle were shipped from Santo to Port Vila, then to Tanna.”

Numake hopes to set up a butchery market to meet stock demands for customers on the island.

She mentioned the Vanuatu Tourism Office (VTO)’s domestic tourism initiative is also a good thing for the Resort, however, they faced few challenges.

Through VTO’s initiative, Mrs Numake said they receive many customers on significant occasions.

She mentioned that catering services on a daily basis is one challenge which lacked profit.

“Recently, we had customers attending the Vanu’aku Pati’s 50th Anniversary celebration and the Vanuatu Agriculture Week event,” she added.

“We turned down a few bookings due to lack of space. Such events assisted us to walk on water in terms of operation costs.”

“The Resort targets international tourists but due to COVID-19, it has impacted us. It was difficult because the market advertised could not suit the locals, so we implemented local domestic tourism rates.”

Evergreen Resort is also looking at other avenues to sustain its operation costs.