Australia a Key Growth Market as Tahiti seeks to Increase Visitor Arrivals

The President of French Polynesia, Mr Oscar Temaru, said today that new nonstop air services between Sydney and Papeete would form a major part of a new strategy to build Tahiti's tourist visitor numbers by more than 40 per cent by 2007.

Speaking during a visit to Sydney, President Temaru, said tourist numbers to Tahiti were forecast to reach 212,000 for the whole of 2005, and targetted at 300,000 visitors in 2007.

President Temaru was speaking during a visit to the Tahiti Tourisme office in Sydney, ahead of the launch next month of nonstop flights by Air Tahiti Nui, the international airline of Tahiti and her Islands.

"In the next few weeks, our airline will introduce nonstop services between Tahiti and both Sydney and New York," President Temaru said. "These are both large source markets for tourists, and will play a very important role in helping us to achieve our growth targets for Tahiti."

From 9 July, Air Tahiti Nui will operate twice-weekly flights between Sydney and Papeete, taking just 7½ hours.

The carrier also will begin non-stop flights between New York City and Papeete a few days earlier on 4 July.

These will connect in Tahiti with the new Australia flights, providing a new one-stop link between Sydney and New York and providing yet another new market opportunity - stopovers in Tahiti.

The Sydney-Papeete flights will be the only nonstop services between the two destinations, making access to Tahiti significantly easier than at present, with all passengers required to travel via New Zealand.

The new flights will depart Sydney at 9.15am every Monday and Saturday, then cross the international dateline and arrive in Papeete at 8.15pm the previous evening, in time to connect with onward flights to the island of Moorea.

The Sydney-Papeete and Papeete-New York flights will be operated with long-range Airbus A340-300 aircraft, and President Temaru’s visit to Sydney coincided with the delivery to Air Tahiti Nui of its fifth A340 aircraft.

The aircraft – one of four Airbus airliners on display at this week’s Paris Air Show, was officially delivered to Air Tahiti Nui Thursday evening, Sydney time, and will fly to Papeete early next week, where it will be formally named “Nuku Hiva” after one of the Marquesas Islands group.

On 4 July, the newest Air Tahiti Nui aircraft will operate the inaugural flight from Papeete to New York’s John F Kennedy Airport.

And on 8 July, the “Nuku Hiva” is scheduled to operate the inaugural Papeete – Sydney flight, with a planned arrival time of 6.55am the following morning at Kingsford Smith Airport.

Flight TN04, the first scheduled flight by the airline from Sydney to Papeete, is timed to depart at 9.15am on Saturday, 9 July, connecting in Tahiti with onward flights to New York nonstop, and to Paris via Los Angeles.

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