8 May 2008

Floating hotel idea in American Samoa for festival scrapped

10:23 am on 8 May 2008

The idea of using a cruise ship as a floating hotel during the two-week 10th Pacific Arts festival, has been scrapped due to the high cost that

visitors will have to pay.

The organizing committee co-chair, Fagafaga Daniel Langkilde, said this was one of the issues discussed during yesterday's committee meeting, where subcommittees presented updated reports on their progress.

Because all hotel accommodations are booked, the committee had sought proposals from cruise ship companies, willing to send a vessel here to be used as a floating hotel.

One proposal was received and reviewed by the committee.

Fagafaga says after calculating the costs as presented in the proposal, the committee found it to be too expensive.

He says it will cost over $400 per person, per day for the cruise ship room.

Fagafaga said the committee is forging ahead with its home-stay program, where visitors rent a room with local families.