Press Release #5 of 2023
PRESS RELEASE
Yap Continues its Tourism Promotional Thrust in the Guam Market
(December 1, 2023 – Yap Visitors Bureau, Yap, FSM): The Yap Visitors Bureau (YVB) continues its efforts to promote Micronesia’s most unique and authentic destination in the neighbouring Guam market. Some of the key initiatives that the Bureau has undertaken recently to target this market include:
Hosting a Fam Trip for Guam Media and an MWR Team
In mid-October YVB, with the assistance of United Airlines, hosted a media familiarisation trip for three (3) Guam-based journalists working for the Guam Daily Post and Pacific Daily News. During the same period YVB helped to facilitate a visit for a team of four (4) persons from the Moral, Welfare and Recreation (MWR) division of the military in Guam. This team deals with travel and outbound packages for personnel based in Guam and met with local tourism stakeholders on doing business with the military.
Some highlights of the visit by the two groups included a boat trip to Rumumg Island to view the largest stone money discs on Yap and a learning about traditional canoeing in Toruw. They also enjoyed a beach day in Gagil, sampling local food and drink, kayaking, and trying their hand at traditional weaving with local women.
Both the media and MWR teams were very impressed with the tourism product offerings on Yap and have already started working on promoting Yap in the Guam market. So far there have been four (4) positive news stories about Yap published by the media group, and the MWR team is currently working on creating Yap travel packages to market to military personnel and their families based in Guam.
Facilitating a Visit by an Executive from Stars and Stripes
At the end of November, the YVB also assisted with a return visit by Douglas Johnson, an Executive of Stars and Stripes Pacific. YVB currently advertises in the bi-weekly Stars and Stripes Guam magazine and the online site Guam.stripes.com. These serve the U.S. military community on Guam with local, community-focused news and information on events, dining, activities, travel, and entertainment. While in Yap, Douglas was able to experience several unique aspects of the tourism product including diving, hiking, traditional dance and culture, leading to editorial travel features on Yap in future issues of the magazine.
Establishing a Partnership with Beyond Guam
YVB also recently established a partnership with Beyond Guam, a travel company based out of Guam, with nearly a decade of experience booking travel throughout the western Pacific region. Headed by entrepreneur Matt Ladmirault, this operator offers standard and tailor-made Yap travel packages to any traveller based in Guam. YVB currently promotes this tour operator in all its advertising materials in Guam as the call to action for booking a package holiday to Yap. For bookings and more information visit beyondguam.com.
ABOUT YAP: Yap is an island in the Federated States of Micronesia, in the Pacific Ocean that is ringed by spectacular coral reefs and famous for its scuba diving with giant manta rays, sharks and mandarinfish. Other key activities on the island include kayaking, hiking, deep-sea fishing and exploring the many World War II historical sites. Yap is also uniquely famous for its stone money (huge disks of stone, which are still used today in major transactions), strong traditional culture and way of life, and welcoming residents. Just a short flight away from Guam or Palau, this Pacific gem is one of the tourism industry’s best kept secrets. For more information on visiting Yap go to www.visityap.com.
For Media Inquiries or Further Information Contact:
Susan Gooliyan – General Manager, Yap Visitors Bureau
susan@visityap.com
www.visityap.com
Tel: (691)-350-2298