Resort Owner Hails Virgin Australia as Savior of Vanuatu Tourism Industry

April 8, 2023 7:15 am | Posted in Business News | Share now TwitterFacebook

By Charles Hakwa

The owner of Eratap Resort has welcomed the return of Virgin Australia to Port Vila from Brisbane, stating that the airline is the savior of Vanuatu’s tourism industry.

Mr. Tony Pittar believes that Air Vanuatu is detrimental to the industry, and that relying on the airline will lead to the demise of tourism in the country. Instead, Pittar thinks that Vanuatu needs to work on bringing in other carriers, such as Qantas and Air New Zealand.

Virgin Australia confirmed that they will be flying into Port Vila five times a week, which Pittar believes will bring in more tourists to his resort and the country as a whole. He says without Virgin Australia, there would be no tourists in the near future as no one wants to fly on Air Vanuatu.

Air Vanuatu responded to Mr. Pittar’s comments by acknowledging the views of their stakeholders and reaching out to industry partners to tackle the current situation and work on a recovery strategy for the industry.

The airline has also reached out to affected guests and business owners and offered flexible commercial policies to help those impacted by the recent incident.

Despite Virgin Australia being a direct competitor, Air Vanuatu stated that they are operating in a global commercial world and are able to compete.