Solomon Islands tourism is making a fresh pitch to travellers who would rather find a place with character than another pool with a view. The pool, after all, has had a fairly good run.
Tourism Solomons has unveiled Hapi Isles – Real, Rare, Raw, a new destination identity built around culture, adventure and the natural world. The global rollout is planned over the coming months, replacing the dugout canoe logo and the branding introduced in 2018.
For the travel trade, the message is clear: sell what makes these islands different.
Tourism Solomons CEO Andrew Nihopara
Tourism Solomons chief executive Andrew Nihopara says the campaign aims to give travellers a sharper sense of the destination.
“For the first time, we have been able to distil the very essence of our Hapi Isles into a brand promise that captures exactly what today’s experience-seeking traveller is searching for, a place that remains genuinely real, remarkably rare and wonderfully raw,” Mr Nihopara said.
It is an ambitious promise. It also gives travel advisors something more useful to discuss than the usual catalogue of sun, sand and smiles.
The tourism body points to diving on Second World War wrecks and coral reefs, surf breaks without the crowds, rainforest walks and living cultural traditions. These are the experiences it wants at the heart of the sales conversation.
Its descriptions of pristine reefs and world-class diving are promotional claims, rather than independent assessments of every site. The broader appeal, however, is easy to grasp: a holiday shaped by the place itself.
Culture needs precision as well as enthusiasm. The Australian Department of Foreign Affairs and Trade lists 63 distinct languages, with numerous local dialects, across the Solomon Islands. English is the official language, while Pijin is the most widely spoken. That is ample diversity without adding to the count.
The new logo gives this national story a compact visual form. Nine shapes sit in a ring, each suggesting both an island and a shell. They represent the country’s nine provinces and reference shell money, which remains part of cultural exchange.
Blue, yellow and green draw on the national flag and evoke sea, sun and vegetation. The old canoe is making way, but the new design still has its feet firmly on island soil.
Melbourne agency Grin Creative developed the identity following a brand review. Tourism Solomons says the work included stakeholder consultation, consumer research, destination analysis and brand strategy.
The name, meanwhile, has some miles on the clock. Tourism Solomons traces “Hapi Isles” to Dick C. Horton’s 1965 book, The Happy Isles: A Diary of the Solomons. Horton was a British district officer and wartime coastwatcher. The Solomon Islands Historical Encyclopaedia records his book’s publication.
For Australian travel advisors, the practical opportunity is to match the promise to the client. A keen diver, history enthusiast or traveller seeking cultural encounters may respond to a very different conversation from someone shopping chiefly for resort facilities.
Good advice will turn those interests into a workable itinerary, with clear expectations about accommodation, transfers and local experiences.
A new logo can open that conversation. The welcome, the guiding and the journey must do the rest.
For information and bookings, speak with your Travel Advisor first. Tourism Solomons provides all destination information.
By: Octavia Koo – © 2026.
Read Time: 3 minutes.
Author Bio:
Octavia Koo arrived in Australia in the early eighties with little fuss and a good eye. Sydney suited her. At UNSW, she studied Arts, then found her footing in graphic design before drifting, quite naturally, into the digital side of things, building websites and shaping words that made people want to stay.
Singapore followed, and with it, the fast pace of tourism platforms and ITB Asia. Long before SEO became a buzzword, Octavia understood how stories travelled online. That’s where she met Stephen, and the seed for something more was planted.
A few years later, she joined Stephen’s EGT Media.
Today, Octavia works with quiet assurance, blending art, instinct and experience to produce stories that don’t shout; they simply work and linger.
