Samoa Tourism

Tourism in Samoa is now a major industry with growth from 1% of GDP in 1991 to more than 20% in 2014.   Reflecting and respecting 'Faa Samoa' -  the indigenous cultural values - was an important part of this project.  As well, the Samoan people wanted to own and actively manage the industry.  From 1989 to 2004 Dave Bamford, acting on behalf of the New Zealand government, assisted the government of Samoa to develop a sustainable tourist industry. Since 2017 Dave has been the Tourism Training Development Team Leader for the Samoa Tourism Growth Partnership Programme on behalf of TRC Tourism and NZAID.