Apia awoke on Tuesday morning to the arrival of the beautiful ship Dawn Princess. Based in Australia this ship is a member of the Princess Cruises fleet and brought nearly 2000 passengers to Samoa for the day as part of its Pacific cruise.

Students from the Australia Pacific Technical College (APTC) Tourism course were on the wharf to meet and greet the passengers as they disembarked from the ship and prepared for tours of Upolu. M&A Holidays Travel and Tours are handling the tour arrangements for the Dawn Princess and thanks to their ongoing support the APTC students were able to assist the passengers with good information about the tourist treasures of Samoa. The students had a briefing with the Samoa Tourism Association last week in preparation for their work with the tourists.

The students were also at the wharf throughout the morning to provide visitor information about Apia to those passengers not joining tours. In particular they highlighted what to do in and around Apia, the beautiful beaches Samoa has to offer and, of course, the Teuila Festival which was very popular with the tourists.

Once the passengers left the ship to explore Samoa the APTC Tourism students were able to board the Dawn Princess, made possible with assistance from PFL, for a tour of the ship. The trainer Mr Brendan Clennett said 'these students are from all across the Pacific including PNG, Solomon Islands and Samoa. They have never before had the opportunity to visit such a luxurious ship. They will be skilled enough to work as a tour guide on such a ship when they complete their course."

The experiences the students will gain from the Dawn Princess visit forms an invaluable part of their APTC course and learning as well as benefiting Samoa tourism. Brendan said "passengers went back to their ship very impressed with the information the students provided and promised to tell their families and friends about Samoa. We hope that this will help spread the word about this beautiful country."

All APTC courses are now taking enrolments. Interested people can contact the office in Apia on 26844.