Results for Travel

Drums were beating at the Liku'alofa Resort-Tofoa yesterday, 24 May, and kava flowed in a welcome for the first yacht rally to visit Tonga since the borders opened post-covid.

The Heilala Festival 2023 including the popular Miss Heilala Pageant returns in Nuku'alofa from 26 June to 7 July, after a three-years hiatus due to the COVID-19 pandemic.

The cruise ship, Celebrity Eclipse, visited Nuku'alofa for a day, arriving with more than 3000 passengers and crew on 14 April. 

Zuiderdam is the second cruise to visit Nuku'alofa in 2023, arriving with more than 2000 passengers and crew at Vuna Wwharf, today 30 January.

Tourism operators in Tonga's top destination, say Vava'u is once again being crippled by a lack of air services. The Tonga government-owned Lulutai Airlines withdrew the services of its main SAAB340 aircraft from 17 January 2023, and there's no indication of when a replacement might come into service for the Vava'u and Ha'apai groups.

The Zuiderdam cruise ship arrived Nuku'alofa for an overnight visit on 27 October bringing over 2000 passengers and crew.

Paul Gauguin arrived in Nuku'alofa on the morning of 3 October, the first cruise ship welcomed onto our shores in two and a half-years, since the border closed due to the COVID-19 pandemic.

With hugs and tears families were reunited at Tonga's Fua'amotu International Airport, after arriving on the first flight as Tonga re-opened its international border with zero quarantine, on Monday 1 August. Lu’isa Sakalia, from Ma'ufanga kissed her young nephew and held him tight.

Tonga's borders will open on 1 August, with the number of weekly flights increasing slowly over the next two months, the Tonga Government announced last night. Adults must prove they are vaccinated for COVID-19 (unless exempted) with at least two doses, and all passengers must have a supervised negative rapid antigen test (RAT) before departure.