The South Pacific Cruise Alliance has announced the election of its new chairman — David Vaeafe, from American Samoa.

Outgoing chairman, Ollivier Amaru, said that passing on the baton of the chairman to David (pictured above) will positively enhance the partnership sealed between the South Pacific Cruise Alliance and the South Pacific Tourism Organisation at Seatrade Cruise Global in Fort Lauderdale, Florida earlier this year.

“It makes no doubt that David’s strong involvement within SPTO as a Board Member as well being on the SPCA Board will help grow the Alliance for its members,” he said.

While Ollivier may have stepped down from the helm of SPCA, his passion and commitment to developing the cruise tourism industry in the South Pacific, he will still provide technical assistance to members.

Commenting on his new role, David said “I look forward to taking on the chairman role and working to grow the organization, partnering with other relevant Associations like with the New Zealand Cruise Association as co-members of each other organisations, and working to grow the cruise market and increase deployment of ships in the South Pacific Region.”

SPCA members include Pitcairn Island, French Polynesia, Cook Islands, American Samoa, Samoa, Kingdom of Tonga and Fiji and cruise related businesses and ports from each nation.