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Samoan Islands a popular tourist destination
30 Sep 2009The two Samoan islands have grown in popularity with tourists in recent years despite their vulnerability to natural disasters.
Between them, both Samoa and American Samoa in the last decade have experienced hurricanes, tropical cyclones and flooding, as well as the recent tsunami.
Samoa and American Samoa came into existence in the later half of the nineteenth century when Germany and the United States divided the Samoan archipelago.
Germany had been handed control of Samoa in 1899 but was driven out by New Zealand during the First World War. New Zealand acquired a UN mandate to administer the islands until 1961, when Samoans finally voted for and gained independence.
Officially called the Independent State of Samoa, it is made up of nine volcanic islands; American Samoa, which lies immediately to the east, is comprised of five volcanic islands and two coral atolls.
Tourism to both has grown as they have become known as just as picturesque and idyllic as other South Pacific destinations such as Fiji and Tahiti.
The islands are fringed with reef and turquoise blue lagoons, are home to tall coconut palms towering above white sand beaches and benefit from almost endless sunshine.
In April this year the Guardian newspaper reported 115,882 foreign visitors per year to Samoa and the key to its growing popularity could lie not only in the landscape but also in the diversity of holiday on offer.
Holidaymakers can stay in upmarket beachfront hotels and resorts, or in traditional beach fales (huts) which are open, with no walls, and use blinds made of coconut palm fronds. Adventure holidays that offer fishing charters, scuba diving trips, hiking to waterfalls, caves and natural waterslides are also popular.
Scottish writer Robert Louis Stevenson, one of Samoa's most famous residents, and his wife Fanny, first saw the islands in 1889. It was the traditional way of life, coupled with its verdant beauty that first caught their attention.
They had their mansion built in Upolu, with 72 tonnes of furniture shipped from England.
Stevenson spent the last year of his life in the capital Apia, and his home, Vailima, is now the residence of the head of state. Stevenson, who died in 1894, is buried at Mount Vaea, which rises to 1,500 feet (460 metres) on the town's southern outskirts.
Samoan society is a deeply conservative and devoutly Christian one that centres around the extended family, which is headed by an elected chief who directs the family's social, economic and political affairs. The church is also prominent and is a focus of recreational and social life. Many Samoan villages hold up to 20 minutes of prayer curfews in the evenings.
The economy is strong and revolves around fishing and agriculture, although it is vulnerable to cyclones and disease.
