A meeting between tourism vendors, the business community of Vava’u and the Ministry for Tourism has heard of outrageous airfares being charged for domestic travel.
Tongovua Appleton who operates a business on Vava’u said it costs 310 pa’anga for a person to fly from Tongatapu to Vava’u.
“That is beyond most of our people’s pay limits and if there are emergencies and we don’t have 310 pa’anga for that fare, how are we going to get to Tongatapu because we all know that taking the ferries will take longer than the planes.”
“Not only that, I’m raising this because I had friends and guests to come over in December but there were 10 of them and they couldn’t risk paying $310 for one person knowing there will be other expenditures on the way,” she said.
Ms Appleton said it’s cheaper for tourists to visit other (Pacific) islands because it is very expensive to travel within the islands in Tonga.
“They have to check with air fares if they are cheap and if that doesn’t align with their calculated expenses, they might as well just go to the next island that provides cheaper air fares to their outer islands.”
Ms Appleton said the Ministry should consider reducing domestic airfares according to the financial standards of the local people.
“Because the fares aren’t just for tourists, they are also for us and we need something we can afford and at the same time still be able to contribute to the income of the country.”
Minister for Tourism, Mr ‘Etuate Lavulavu assured the meeting that the matter will be looked into by the ministry and other relevant stakeholders.