Despite being a tropical paradise with reasonable prices, the Solomon Islands still face many challenges in its tourism industry. The biggest challenges involve the lack of infrastructure and the distance between the small Pacific nation and its potential customers.
In a recent tourist report, released in Honiara, the capital of the Solomon Islands, the problems facing the islands in terms of tourism were revealed and possible solutions were made. The first step in solving anything is to identify the problem and this is precisely what happened. The basic problem is the location of the islands. They are not either around the corner from America and Canada like Hawaii is or within the reach of rich Europeans like the Greek islands are. To get to the Solomon Islands, tourists would often pay more to the airline than they would pay for an entire holiday in, let's say, Crete.
The second problem is that the Solomon Islands simply lack the infrastructure necessary to bring more tourists onto the Islands. Solomon Airlines do not run enough flights to get travelers to Honiara and there are not even enough ships stopping at the shores of the South Pacific islands. However, even if waves of tourists were to arrive, then there is still an insufficient number of hotels and restaurants.
Officials involved in the tourist report have stated that there simply must be better collaboration between the Ministry of Tourism and the Ministry of Commerce. This would mean that cash is filtered through the correct channels and the Solomon Islands prosper as a result. Another change, that is being considered, is that Solomon Airlines will start flying to Papua New Guinea on a regular basis. This will certainly help to increase the flow of tourists.
