Category: News

FHTA, 02 December 2021 – After 20 long months, Fiji is now finally open.

Cautiously perhaps, but open nonetheless.

International visitors from Travel Partner countries started flying into Fiji yesterday (Wednesday 1st Dec) to enjoy our famous Fijian hospitality after almost two years of being forced to isolate from the world.

Our tourism industry has logged many hours during the lockdowns, in meaningful discussions and meetings to try and stem the flow.

Many people from different sections work together and focus on one common goal – reopening safely in a new COVID world.

For supporting the industry to survive the crisis when it hit us hard early last year, we owe deep gratitude to the Fiji Revenue & Customs Service, the Land Transport Authority, the Reserve Bank of Fiji, the Association of Banks in Fiji, the iTaukei Land Trust Board and the Maritime Safety Authority of Fiji.

Then working closely with the industry and its wide range of stakeholders to develop safe guidelines that evolved to become what has become a critical part of our Reopening Framework.

For this, we are grateful for the understanding and support from our honourable Government leaders including the Prime Minister, the Minister for Economy, the Minister for Commerce, Trade, Tourism & Transport, the Permanent Secretaries for Health, Tourism and Economy and the many Directors and ministerial support staff that we engaged closely with to provide industry background and context to roll our often complicated protocols within the hospitality space in collective efforts to manage safety and control the risks.

Gratitude for the collaboration and support would not be complete without also mentioning the huge teams of people who were constantly on the ground managing the operational aspects of the mammoth exercise that contained COVID became.

These included the Ministry of Health’s many doctors and nurses, the military and navy personnel that joined the Fiji Police, Immigration, airport and security people to form the very effective Border Control group under the Ministry of Defense.

Working alongside the Border Control has been the High Commissioners for Australia, New Zealand, USA and India, amongst others, to provide Fiji with the critically needed vaccines that allowed Fiji to reach its high vaccination record.

And it goes without saying that the national airline Fiji Airways, our hard-working national tourism office staff at Tourism Fiji (TF), hundreds of tourism businesses and the thousands that support them have all been part of this exhausting journey that often seemed like it would not end.

Vinaka vakalevu! To all of these people and the supporting agencies, too many to mention, who provided resources, funding and technical expertise to get us to where we are now.

As countries around the world react strongly to the new Omicron variant, Fiji’s reopening is continuing as planned because we believe our preparation to this point can support what the science has determined thus far – that more research was still required but that the basics were still required even in this new scenario.

While Omicron must be taken seriously because its features are worrying, there are still large gaps in what we know so far.

Further analyses are still needed that will take two weeks at the very least to get the first indicative updates, but strong medical advice is that the variant should be controlled with testing, tracing isolation, applying known public health measures, and ongoing surveillance.

And that is what we already have in place in Fiji, and prepared and trained for.

This is even more reason for continued vigilance and to not let our guards down. And this has been exactly what has been the hardest part of the COVID “journey” – complacency.

At each stage of the many challenges in this long trek through COVID that we have felt we gained even the smallest win; we have inadvertently relaxed our guards.

From unpopular hotel quarantines that were never designed to accommodate this as an option, complex lockdowns, curfews that started at 6pm (remember those?) and the range of “new” requirements that eventually simply become part of our lives.

These included downloading the CareFiji App, scanning in and out everywhere, sanitizing, social distancing (or never leaving home), long queues that made us rethink our reasons for leaving home, masking up and as much as possible -remaining in our bubbles.

Turns out that the best advice for staying safe has actually not changed much at all.

Stay home, wash your hands frequently, mask up in confined spaces, sanitize and keep your distance – are all still very much applicable even with new strains Hotels have taken vaccination verification, the Care Fiji Commitment (CFC) protocols, second-day guest & monthly staff testing protocols, enhanced sanitation, social distancing and mask-wearing measures as part of their responsibilities now.

We could quarantine all our incoming visitors for three days and make them miserable; or we could provide them with some freedom of movement within CFC-confirmed areas until they return a negative Rapid Antigen Test on their second day and make the hotels responsible (remind the guests, manage the tests, provide results) so that the Ministry of Health can continue to have the oversight of all incoming visitors for at least the first three days in Fiji.

We chose to do the latter. Hence, our constant reminders for everyone’s continued commitment and compliance to support keeping Fiji safe, keeping in mind the many sacrifices and the collective efforts of getting us to where we are now.

With Fiji’s reopening announced, there was only one change to the framework that had already been put into place when Omicron was acknowledged as a virus “of concern”.

For Non-Partner (Red Zone) Countries; quarantine timeframes that had been reduced to 10 days were returned to 14 days.
Returning Australian citizens now also need to home isolate for a few days and while this caused some consternation initially, did not eventually cause a discernable impact on inbound bookings.

The new COVID variant Omicron that sounds like it was named after a nasty robot, has early reports indicating that it may be more transmissible or virulent than the Delta variant that plagued Fiji not too long ago.

Only real data will tell, and any predictions about this new COVID variant’s virulence and impact remains speculative at this stage.

However, Fiji is in a very different position now when compared to April 2021.

We did not have vaccines then, whereas we are now over 90% fully vaccinated with children getting vaccinated now and booster shots confirmed as being available.

Our COVID-safe protocols weren’t as robust as they are now and businesses have accepted the new COVID safe rules as part of their “new normal”.

Now we need everybody, not just the tourism industry workers, to continue to get vaccinated, continue wearing masks, continue social distancing and continue to wear masks.

We experienced first-hand what happens when a process or a step is not followed and being a small island nation, we saw how quickly things could get out of control.

All the necessary steps have been taken to ensure that international visitors can be received in a safe and controlled manner.

The Reopening Framework is just that, a framework.

Preparations and alternatives are already in place to review processes and make improvements where required.

Our tourism front-liners have been briefed and have been training for the past few months.

Our industry colleagues at TF have a comprehensive FAQ section that you should refer to for clarity around general travel requirements.

This can be accessed on fiji.travel/FAQ and includes information on booking conditions, vaccination rates, travelling with children, selecting resorts, testing and returning home, amongst other information.

Everybody should have a read of the information and be aware of what is expected from the guests, the hotels and the workers.

Our compliance and support of these measures as an industry ensure we remain committed to getting tourism back up again, while keeping the people we are responsible for as safe as possible.

All of our members and tourism stakeholder are reminded that embedding layers of controls against pandemic disease into their businesses, such as safe air and masking when needed, will make it far more likely that your business will remain open, not be subject to disruptions, nor lose key staff or clients to illness.

This is because, despite vaccination levels, all controls are important to protect health as immunity to the vaccine wanes, and reduce transmission that can occur despite vaccination.

For now, all incoming traffic from green countries will spend three nights in CFC-certified hotels while free to move around the hotel premises.

They will do a Rapid Antigen Test on 48 hours or the second day and will be free to travel to green zones freely after a negative result.

They will need RT-PCR tests to return (to Australia) or do Rapid Antigen tests (to return to the USA) so they must organise this in advance so there isn’t a bottleneck at testing facilities around the tourism hotspots.
I
f we all play our parts, we CAN make this work.

You only have to hear our famous Bula! song to agree.

By: Fantasha Lockington – CEO, FHTA (Published in the Fiji Times on 02 December 2021)

FHTA, 25 November 2021 – With only a few days to go to 1 December, the Fiji Tourism industry is buzzing.

Busy and abuzz with anticipation and some trepidation that they can roll out the myriad lists of health and safety protocols, as well as the usual nerves with the opening to a full house after almost 2 years of intermittent opening and closing with reduced room inventories and smaller staff numbers.

We have been planning for this since March 2020 when flights stopped because the borders were closed and hotels and resorts and most businesses dependent on international tourism were forced to close their doors or only open a fraction of their usual operations.

It has been a long road to get to where we are today, with months of uncertainty and our own version of lockdowns eventually giving way to some glimmer of hope as vaccination numbers increased and infections and deaths decreased.

The global pandemic has changed the face of travel everywhere and Fiji is no different. A quick review of how countries around the world are planning to, or have reopened show that current challenges, difficult to understand reasoning around introduced protocols and the eventual settling down into what becomes everyone’s “new normal” is not unusual.

But protesting change apparently is normal.

The entire world protested the introduced heightened protocols for safe travel post 9/11, but now we all stand in line and take off our shoes, belts, remove our laptops, toss out our liquids and succumb to the frisking, scanning and pat-downs required at airports globally.

And that was 20 years ago!

From the early days when Fiji would send COVID-19 tests overseas to the present time where our Ministry of Health (MOHMS) and Fiji Centre for Disease Control (FCDC) can conduct their own C19 testing at high quantities and faster turnaround times.

This ability and our COVID-safe Protocols have almost flatlined our second wave and buoyed Tourism’s efforts to bolster its planning for the eventual reopening of borders.

The Fiji Hotel and Tourism Association (FHTA), as we have continually shared in this forum, has strived to work with Government and other related stakeholders to ensure that our industry is ready to come on 1st December.

And that means that we work together to get the industry and our economy back on track.

The overall counter for the amount of in-person and virtual meetings to hash out all things related to the tourism framework for reopening is in the red as we have logged thousands of hours of discussion, debate and consultation.

Tourism Fiji’s (TF) Care Fiji Commitment (CFC) is in high gear as every accommodation provider preparing for opening by 01 December comes on board and the certification process gets rolled out; and this is being followed by training for all interested restaurants, transport providers, retailers and suppliers to the industry who want to be able to be instantly recognized by our international visitors as being confirmed as a safe business.

Launched in October 2020, the CFC program ensures that tourism businesses adopt enhanced safety standards by upskilling operators in COVID-19 mitigation practices and protocols to ensure guest and staff safety.

In the last 6 months, added layers to the protocols now ensure hotels can support the Ministry of Health with post-arrival and pre-departure testing requirements with COVID safe practices built into guest comfort, services and experiences.

Statutory bodies and NGOs have come forward to tender their interest in conducting training for tourism staff and we are currently in the process of planning this exercise for as many workers as possible.

This is tourism’s collective commitment to reopening safely.

We have been working hard to ensure that all the necessary steps have been taken so that international guests and returning Fijians, can be welcomed back safely and in a controlled manner.

To that end, we have sought to understand the many new health, immigration, airline and country requirements, and then break these down through training, procedural explanations or planning logistics around how they can take place as efficiently as possible.

Flexibility will be key as we adapt to the new way of doing things and we have no doubt there will be teething problems, the need to re-evaluate some areas and improve, refine or downgrade others moving forward.

While we celebrate Fiji’s 90 percent and rising vaccination figures, the embedded controls are considered vitally important to protect the health of tourism staff, visitors and our communities, as immunity to the vaccines is expected to wane and more variants emerge.

But, with every new risk that COVID never seems to run out; new mitigative measures and solutions have also emerged including recommendations for booster shots, mandated vaccinations in countries initially against this as an option and the consistent reminders that we not become complacent and get used to this new way of going about our lives.

In the same way, we simply got used to travelling internationally the way we do now through metal detectors and X-ray machines that see through everything.

You might need to spend 3 days in a hotel on your arrival to ensure you can get a Rapid Antigen Test on your second day before you can travel further afield, but at least you can move about and enjoy restaurants and activities in the highly vaccinated areas in
and around your CFC approved hotel. And this is the same for anyone coming in from a partner or “green” country – international visitor or returning Fijian.

Travelling from a non-partner or “red” zone country requires a stay in a managed quarantine facility regardless of whether you are an international visitor or returning Fijian.

This and other travel-related information is covered in Tourism Fiji’s very comprehensive website under the FAQ’s section, to assist potential travellers to understand the new rules around travel.

And just like other countries opening up around the world, there will be challenges with finding accommodation for both managed quarantine as well as holiday options adding to people’s frustrations on trying to get to Fiji earlier, to return to loved ones and to get on with their normal lives.

But we are not “normal” anymore, so we must be aware of the new rules and try to understand why we are reopening more cautiously than larger nations with far better health systems than ours.

There is no room for complacency and more than the usual reasons for getting on board with compliance.

By: Fantasha Lockington – CEO, FHTA (Published in the Fiji Times on 25 November 2021)

FHTA, 18 November 2021 – Despite the heady heights we have climbed to in achieving so much in this increasingly digital business world we live in; nothing quite beats meeting people face-to-face.

As Forbes magazine succinctly puts it, “there are occasions when physical attendance is necessary. Whether for team building, motivation, clarity, or accountability reasons; being in the same room still matters in many professional circumstances.”

This rang true for the Fiji Hotel and Tourism Association as we successfully held our 56th Annual General Meeting late last week.

Held at the Radisson Blu Resort, the AGM was well-attended by members and associate members who have not had the luxury (it is indeed a luxury now) to be in the same room at the same time for a long time now.

These members and those that were only able to Zoom in were briefed on the Association’s past twelve months of lobbying and member support activities and took the opportunity to raise queries and vote in new board members to replace outgoing ones.

Brian Kirsch of Likuri Island Resort was re-elected as the FHTA President and will serve another 3-year term.

He will be assisted by Vice Presidents, Tammie Tam of Warwick Hotels & Resorts and Narend Kumar of Tanoa Hotel Group.

“The past year and a half have been the most challenging for the tourism industry in Fiji. But we have made sure that the downtime has been used industriously and have been involved in supporting our members to survive the crisis as well as the planning and implementation of the new COVID-safe protocols, said Mr Kirsch.

He added, “This has included supporting members in navigating a broad range of issues from keeping our employees and customers safe, managing cash flows, reorienting operations in the new normal to planning for the border reopening.”

These challenges, he noted, were addressed in various forms and FHTA endeavoured to support its membership in continuing to address these, providing clarity and advice on constantly changing situations and ensuring that communication was efficient and proactive, which was even more critical for the Association to provide.

Other new board appointments were: Josephine Smith (Musket Cove Resort), James McCann (Yasawa Island Resort), Adam Wade (Vuda Marina), and Brad Rutherford (South Sea Island Cruises).

The full 16-member board that reflect the many tourism segments and regions they work in and are part of will take the helm as part of the industry’s preparation for a safe reopening on 1 December, making a comeback from the most difficult period that the industry has ever faced.

We also launched a new award during the AGM, in recognition of services to Fiji’s tourism sector – the FHTA Inspirational Award.

This year we awarded it to the family of our past president and tourism stalwart, the late Mr Dixon Seeto.

Dixon was the President of FHTA for over sixteen (16) years and in that time his leadership, diplomacy and friendship was unmatched.

He strengthened the relationship of FHTA with the Government and other stakeholders to make the Association more relevant as a lobbying body.

This was enabled with more partnership programs entered into as well as ensuring tourism was always included as part of any collaboration or consultation for constructive developmental input.

He was a friend, advisor and leader in the industry.

He earned many friends in various circles and he was the face and voice of the Association.

His hard work and commitment ensured that the tourism operators and owners had an avenue to express themselves in the public arena, with Government, regional organisations, relevant stakeholders and the community at large.

So, at this time when the tourism family is inspired by the future of the industry, it was fitting that we awarded the first-ever FHTA Inspirational Award to his widow, Ms Jenny Seeto in remembrance of Dixon’s sacrifice and toil for Fiji’s tourism industry.

Following the FHTA AGM, and with a wide range of tourism operators already present, it was determined that the opportunity to address issues of widespread interest should be taken advantage of.

To this end, we hosted a panel discussion to discuss tourism specific and reopening concerns, so that queries and clarifications could be addressed.

We were privileged to have the Permanent Secretary of Health Dr James Fong and the Permanent Secretary of Tourism Shaheen Ali join Tourism Fiji CEO Brent Hill, APTC Acting Country Director Gareth McGrath, Fiji Airways Executive Manager Digital Channels & Tourism Partnerships Akuila Batiweti, FHTA President Brian Kirsch and myself to address reopening plans, training, flights and booking information with questions from on-line and in-person tourism stakeholders for the session.

We sincerely thank the panellists and in particular the Permanent Secretaries for availing themselves for this tourism event and we look forward to working closely with their ministries and organisations to ensure that the return to business for tourism is as smooth as possible.

There is no doubt that the session would have also provided some great insight to the speakers based on the issues raised, and where tourism stakeholders still needed further clarification and what were genuine concerns that might be hindering the reopening process.

FHTA has been actively vocal and instrumental in the drafting of Fiji’s Reopening Framework that will govern how accommodation providers and other tourism businesses will cater to guests safely and consistently.

We are aware of the risks of letting our guard down and take seriously our responsibilities for ensuring we get the reopening safety protocols right whilst still ensuring we keep our collective “Bula Spirit” alive and well.

After all, it is the “Bula Spirit” that is what our international visitors will be coming to Fiji for. The safety mechanisms at play while they’re here simply form the added layers to what we can offer as a destination.

We will also lend manpower and resources to the team that will conduct the final step of Care Fiji Commitment (CFC) certification, including ensuring the individual properties can deliver the required levels of implementation and compliance.

FHTA firmly believes that there are unique opportunities to invigorate the economy by introducing policies that provide stimulus and accelerate growth by incentivising job retention, sustaining tourism SME’s and protecting vulnerable groups, while also promoting more investment in the industry.

But first, we must show that we can get our reopening right.

Then we can continue to drive efforts to create opportunities, consult widely and lobby strongly for our members by liaising with relevant Government Ministries, agencies and statutory bodies to ensure that all tourism businesses get the support they need to develop in the industry and grow the economy.

As Dixon often said, “It is good for tourism only if it is good for Fiji and the economy.”

By: Fantasha Lockington – CEO, FHTA (Published in the Fiji Times on 18 November 2021)

FHTA, 4 November 2021 – Someone recently likened the layers of protection against COVID as slices of Swiss cheese stacked beside each other. Social distancing, personal hygiene, mask-wearing, contact tracing and vaccination are just some of the imperfect layers (Swiss cheese has holes) that do not provide full protection alone but when stacked together form an almost impenetrable wall guarding against the onslaught of COVID.

When you think of COVID Safe practices in that context, you can appreciate why there is a need to retain restrictive measures and heightened hygiene standards, despite our excellent local vaccination levels, as we welcome international visitors back.

Exciting times lie ahead for Fiji. If we get things right.

How do we get things right? Just like the Swiss cheese wall, we align our practices across the industry, across the private and public sector and between countries.

We have been working hard to ensure that all the necessary steps have been taken so that international visitors can be received in a safe and controlled manner.

There are still many queries coming in from our industry stakeholders both to our Secretariat and Tourism Fiji as the national tourism office, regarding aspects of the Reopening Framework that have proven tricky to comprehend or need a fuller explanation on how they will be applied.

To that end, we have sought to understand the many new health, immigration, airline and country requirements, and then break these down through training, procedural explanations or planning logistics around how they can take place as efficiently as possible.

Testing protocols and the logistical details of performing the test, reading and actioning the results as well as getting the tests to the nearest labs and then accessing the subsequent reports are being worked through. Once confirmed they will be shared widely so that all the connected travel and testing processes enable visitors to get the best experience that they are all ultimately here for.

People booking their flights to Fiji are coming for a tropical holiday, a break from work, catching up with friends and relatives or simply finally returning home.
Whatever the reason; it is our job to make their trip as safe and as seamless as possible.

Our industry colleagues at Tourism Fiji have a comprehensive FAQ section that you should refer to for clarity around general travel requirements. You can access this on https://fiji.travel./FAQ and it includes information on booking conditions, vaccination rates, travelling with children, selecting resorts, testing and returning home and other relevant information.

We continue to remind everyone in the industry that the stipulated requirements for reopening to international travel must be viewed as precautionary measures deemed necessary by the Ministry of Health & Medical Services, at this time, to keep our communities, staff and guests safer (necessary slices of Swiss cheese).

Our compliance and support of these measures as an industry ensure we remain committed to getting tourism back up again while keeping the people we are responsible for as safe as possible (like an impenetrable Swiss cheese wall).

All of our members and tourism stakeholders have been reminded that embedding layers of controls against pandemic disease into their businesses, such as safe air and masking when needed, will make it far more likely that your business will remain open, not be subject to disruptions, nor lose key staff or guests to illness.

This is because, despite vaccination levels, all controls are important to protect health as immunity to the vaccine wanes, and reduce transmission that can occur despite vaccination.

We hope the requirements reduce or get removed eventually. But for now, we must all work towards compliance.

Based on the number of enquiries we have received, there is confusion around who can come in and how between now and December. So here is the breakdown:

From now until 10th November, only returning vaccinated Fiji residents, citizens and work permit holders can come in (unless you have been approved as a visitor to come in via VIP or Blue Lanes) and should be coming in from a “green zone” partner country.

This category of inbound arrivals will be required to spend 7 days in a Fiji Managed Quarantine facility (FMQ) and several hotels offer this accommodation service that can be found on Fiji Airway’s website https://fijimanagedquarantine.com/

They cannot leave their rooms like any other managed quarantine and need negative RT-PCR tests confirmed to leave quarantine before moving into the community.

If coming in from a “red zone”, non-partner country or coming in as an unvaccinated passenger, the quarantine time is 14 days. This information is available on the Ministry of Tourism website https://www.mcttt.gov.fj/home/traveltofiji/international-travel/

From 11th November to 31st November, only vaccinated, returning citizens, residents and permit holders coming from green countries get 3 days in FMQs. To leave quarantine, a negative RT-PCR test is needed. Everyone else must stay 7 days with 2 tests required.

Then for the official Fijian border reopening day of 1st December, all incoming visitors from green countries are allowed quarantine free entry and will only need to spend a minimum of 3 days in Care Fiji Commitment (CFC) certified hotels.

On the 3rd day (or 48 hours after arrival), a negative Rapid Antigen Test ensures they have free rein to travel anywhere they wish, although we will be advising international visitors against going into communities with recorded low vaccination rates.

During the 3 days, they can still move around any CFC certified or approved businesses, activities and outlets, travel to the North to spend the bulk of their holiday there, go on a day trip or go diving.

International visitors include those coming in for a holiday, coming for business, attending a conference or visiting friends and relatives. Everyone in this category will be required to provide a confirmation of paid accommodation at a CFC certified property and should be getting transported by CFC approved transportation (including taxies) to get a confirmed airline seat.

Why? Because the Ministry of Health needs to ensure that since your last 72hour RT-PCR test prior to arrival into Fiji, you did not get exposed and contracted COVID. The Ministry needs to reduce the risk of transmission further because even though you are already vaccinated, you could still pose a risk.

If a positive result comes back from the post-48-hour Rapid Antigen Test, a follow-up RT-PCR test will be required and hotels must have these procedures in place with access to test kits and confirmation of exactly where they can get PCR swabs done, the labs that will provide the results and what a confirmed positive or negative test looks like.

Hotel staff are getting ready to be trained to process the test results, monitor guests and escalate processes when required, while we work on getting a better understanding of which labs can process PCR test results, how we get the samples to them from across all of Fiji’s tourism networks, what their turnaround time for tests and confirmed results will be and how these will be communicated back to the guest.

Turnaround times are critical to the industry because we want to ensure our visitors can get back on their departing flights when they are supposed to.

Every international visitor leaving Fiji eventually will require proof of a negative test to be presented to the airline they will travel on, to be able to get back into their country. Depending on their country’s requirement (not Fiji’s), this test might be a Rapid Antigen Test (e.g. USA) or an RT-PCR test (e.g. Australia).

To add another layer of compliance complication, some countries have outlined specific test types (e.g. USA), want their own reporting forms (e.g. Japan) or want specific information provided on the negative reports (everybody else).

Suppliers of test kits, like the suppliers of hand sanitisers, have flourished almost overnight, however tourism operators should proceed with caution and not be blinded by cheap prices. There is a list of approved test kits and the importation of these require specific approvals too (Ministry of Health).

We will leave out the escalation processes for positive cases, the need for hotels to be prepared for guests to stay longer, the very critical need for travel insurance to cover for a longer stay than might have been envisaged and the logistics that still have to be worked out to get test samples from maritime islands to labs on the mainland.

Suffice to say that we are wading through these as a collective tourism group and trying to stay focused on getting our border reopening right.
It is clear, however, that we must continue to update and better articulate the very important messaging on what to expect over the next few months.

As Fiji’s national tourism office, Tourism Fiji is this country’s destination marketing agency that ensures any information about Fiji uses all of its communication channels available, to clarify and update what visitors need to know if considering a holiday to Fiji.

And they ARE doing this better than anyone else.

If there is confusion or conflicting information from some of the Government department messages, social media sites and mainstream media; simply check Tourism Fiji’s website for the clarity you will need.

FHTA’s focus is ensuring our tourism members and the industry’s suppliers that are also members, are consistently updated on these same communication efforts, provide clarity and training and ensure overall compliance.

If you are not our member (yet) and you are struggling to understand the changes; you have a lot to catch up on.

Communication is often considered the most important aspect of success.

Right now, as we wait on the brink of reopening after almost 2 years of being shut off from the world, we need the right communication and the collective presence of mind to get correct information from legitimate and expert sources to successfully reopen.

Now is not the time to be adding to the already complicated situation of reopening our fragile country into a new COVID safe world by being the mouse of misinformation weakening our Swiss cheese wall of COVID protection.

If we want to hear the most important word in tourism by the 1st of December, we need to ALL work on getting this border reopening right.

And we can’t wait to hear ‘BULA!!’ ringing out every day, across Fiji.

By: Fantasha Lockington – CEO, FHTA (Published in the Fiji Times on 4 November 2021)

FHTA, 28 October 2021 – The ramp-up of activity in the tourism sector has been jolting but expected.

There has been a flurry of queries and requests for clarifications on the myriad list of requirements for reopening from across the tourism family – the accommodation providers, the suppliers, the contractors and even potential visitors coming directly to the Fiji Hotel & Tourism Association (FHTA) website.

Tourism staff have started returning to full-time work while others who had moved on into other industries are being contacted with new offers so that the preparation of closed or semi-open resorts can reopen with full inventory being made available and all systems firing for full operational status.

But while many tourism businesses have been open for months now, getting to full reopening status is still an ongoing challenge for hundreds of other resorts located on islands other than on the main island of Viti Levu.

With lower vaccination levels on the outer islands still being addressed, many people may not be aware that getting staff out to these resorts is a logistical process that requires many complicated steps.

As enquiries from potential visitors turn to confirmed bookings, the rush to get reopening ready by 1st December is still a challenge for many island resorts trying to get tradespeople like carpenters, builders, electricians, engineers and plumbers out because this had not been possible before with lockdowns still in place for maritime travel.

And adding to the list of things that need to be addressed by resort operators that have had properties closed with only the required machinery running, is the storm surge damage from the cyclone last year that has often required the rebuilding and reinforcement of sea walls and other infrastructure.

In the list of people required in the clean-up and maintenance process, apart from resort staff for manning requirements, are also the regulatory and compliance officers who must ensure licensing and approvals are in place before reopening.

Vessel and vehicle safety inspections, OHS, hotel licencing, fire services, HR trainers and any other agencies with a need to poke around a tourism business to ensure compliance.

The massive task and associated costs of getting reopening ready, therefore, despite requiring stepping through a range of constantly evolving COVID safe requirements is difficult to appreciate unless one gets out to an island resort to see it first-hand.

Thousands of local travellers in Fiji have been able to do exactly this and experience for themselves through exciting gatherings set against the most amazing ocean views and awe-inspiring sunsets, then sharing these widely on every available social media platform; further boosting Fijian tourism images for a country still prepping to make things even more perfect and just a little safer.

And ready they will be for whichever date each resort has targeted for its reopening. Many have confirmed they will be ready over the next few weeks, while far more have already been opened and where possible, already enjoying domestic tourism.

So come 1st December, who exactly is coming in or looking to book a seat on those flights that are selling so quickly that Qantas and Jetstar have decided to bring forward their own scheduled flights to Fiji.

Travel gurus have made all sorts of assumptions, while wholesalers and marketing experts have weighed in with their own theories based on historical travel data on Pacific Islands travel.

But COVID has been that once in a lifetime curveball that put our world off-kilter for a while and forced a refocus on clean hands, fresh air and open spaces; the global travel industry is still ambivalent on how things will pan out.

Resilience and adaptability have been identified as the two fundamental characteristics that the travel industry must adopt for a successful rebirth because these will ensure we are ready for anything.

As Australia slowly reopens by state and their citizens who have traditionally made up 42 percent of Fiji’s visitor market share flex their travel freedoms, we are seeing a tremendous surge of interest and bookings for a variety of reasons.

We can expect that there will be more families and groups of friends choosing to travel together, having been apart for months (and even years) with restrictions on travel and crowds in place until only recently.

Millennials are also expected to be a stronger segment of travellers who are recognised digital natives with a wealth of power as a generation that can find information and move quickly as a result.

These younger travellers on the lookout for experiences, generally trust each other’s opinions over any marketing spiels or industry advice, with social media platforms driving their reasons for selecting a product, service or experience.

Understanding how and why these traveller segments book, should drive how we market our own products and services.

And threading through all the information being pored through by travel-hungry populations emerging from long lockdowns and nervousness around COVID safety is the need for reassurance that where they are going is considered safe, can keep them safe and that they will be able to return home safely.

Fiji has many mechanisms now in place to deal with all the moving parts of the resurrection of tourism as the biggest employer and the largest contributor of national revenue.

This includes the tax breaks and incentives announced in the last few national budgets to support the industry’s recovery, the COVID Risk Management Taskforce, the Tourism Recovery Team and the Care Fiji Commitment (CFC) – forums that have allowed wider consultation for tourism’s safer recovery process and the reopening framework.

The collaboration with the national tourism office, the private sector and the medical services people have now moved to ensure we have sufficient supplies for testing kits, that we can turn around test results for the thousands of visitors that will be moving through our systems, along with the thousands more tourism staff that will require regular testing as well, until these requirements for testing reduce or are eventually removed.

With testing kits suddenly tripling in cost, we may need to request assistance with price regulation to ensure we stay on track with getting reopening ready.

So, with the addition of even more now to the moving parts that is normal for an industry that is coming back on to its usual non-stop operational nature; and to the question of whether Fiji will be ready for reopening and whether tourism will bounce back to its pre-pandemic highs; the response is that we are still hopeful we can yes to both.

Of even more interest, based on the current booking trends, is whether COVID has impacted our traditional “off-season” – the sudden drop in bookings we usually expect after Christmas, which lasts until the first school holidays in Australia and New Zealand around April.

Because it is looking like January, February and March bookings for Fiji are scaling upwards and are not going according to what has taken place historically or pre-COVID.

Despite fully understanding the economic shortfalls without its usually formidable influence on employment, supply lines and the large, multiplier effects throughout the country; tourism still cannot afford to be anything but pragmatic.

We are still apprehensively watching our increasing and commendable national vaccination numbers because we want to reduce the number of ‘no-go’ areas that will identify lower vaccinated areas.

We are working to come up with innovative solutions to the logistic challenges of getting test swabs to labs and getting reports turned around faster.

There are still safety protocols and onerous conditions that appear overly cautious or burdensome especially for SME’s, that require clarity or flexibility so that the many segments in tourism can comply and be included in the reopening because tourism has never been a “one size fits all” type of industry.

However, the industry breathed a sigh of relief this week when restrictions were amended to enable more convenient travel pathways.

Along with applying resilience and adaptability, we can also add flexibility.

Like a coconut tree – exemplifying all three characteristics and forever here in the tropics.

So too will tourism if we can help it.

By: Fantasha Lockington – CEO, FHTA (Published in the Fiji Times on 28 October 2021)

FHTA, 21 October 2021 – If indications of recent online activity are anything to go by, Fiji is looking good for the planned official border reopening on 1st December.

Our tourism family has been overwhelmed by the number of bookings coming in, especially from our Vuvale partner Australia.

This comes in the wake of Government’s recent Fiji Day announcement on the firm dates for our borders opening up again for international visitors.

Our borders will open up to fully vaccinated travellers from the United States, United Kingdom Australia, New Zealand, most Pacific Islands countries and others, with the “green zone” country list advised as being expanded and updated consistently.

Visitors must have a negative COVID test three days before arrival and also return a negative rapid test 48 hours post-arrival to warrant unrestrained travel anywhere in Fiji.

Tourists and returning residents will need to do at least a three-day hotel stay to have their whereabouts accounted for before that test, during which they will still be able to enjoy COVID-safe approved sights and activities for the duration of their observation period.

While the New Zealand government is advising its citizens not to travel internationally (and we understand their current hesitancy), we are working hard to prove that we can maintain a safe environment for all travellers should they decide to pack a bag and head off our way for some fun and sun.

As we watch vaccination levels move slowly around the world, New Zealand’s fully vaccinated rate sits at 55 percent this week and across the Tasman Sea, Australia’s vaccination total is 56 percent for fully vaccinated adults.

Media reports in Australia note that many families there looking for a tropical getaway are feeling more and more confident planning a holiday to Fiji than domestically, and this is largely due to our commendable vaccination rate now at around 84 percent for eligible adults (and still rising), and may also be an acknowledgement that we are remaining cautious with our current demand for COVID -safe practices for work, play and public behaviour.

There will be several ‘no-go’ areas for travellers but thanks to our vaccination rate, these will continue to reduce and visitors can still visit a large number of tourist hotspots around the country.

Kudos to the great work from the teams at the Ministry of Health and Medical Services and the Fiji Government for this achievement that has laid a sturdy foundation with which the tourism industry has built its COVID-safe protocols to be able to finally reopen.

We are now looking forward to all that hard work for a safe reopening paying off.

The framework for the reopening isn’t set in stone, and it certainly should not be, but it does provide a solid base to build confidence.

During these past two years with the tourism sector grinding to a halt, far too many lives and businesses have been affected in the process.

In the Pacific, livelihoods were more than just curtailed when incomes collapsed. It had a crippling effect on families forced to make decisions about where they lived and what they had to sacrifice to earn a living.

The access to the land, sea and the strong bonds of family or vuvale kicked in to look after one another either directly or through remittances being sent home, which for Fiji has seen the biggest increase – overtaking tourism earnings in the last month while tourism remained stalled.

But as we have pondered what level tourism comes back on and which safety frameworks must be in place; it has been a complicated and exhausting series of deciding between planning for the worst-case scenarios or adopting a cautionary approach with several safety nets ready to go.

Suffice to say that with just under 2 months to reopening, we have a little of both in place with discussions still ongoing that we can drop, amend or adopt alternative health measures based on a mixture of the evolving science, country-to-country agreements and the good doctors’ increased confidence level with the industry doing what it says it can, and will.

Our readiness levels are high, our national airline is primed, our accommodation providers, tourism stakeholders and suppliers are bursting ready.

Ready also because most of the last 22 months has been spent understanding the changing science around COVID, and studying the unfortunate mistakes of countries around the world dealing with a virus that has been able to stay alive thus far.

We will consistently maintain as we have done before, that businesses, tourism or otherwise; must realise that entrenching layers of strict controls against (pandemic) disease into their operations, such as safe air, increased ventilation and masking when needed, will ensure that their businesses are far more likely
to remain open and not be subject to disruptions, nor lose key staff or customers to illness.

Of the many things that will change and evolve as the months move on, this preparation will remain constant for some time yet.

We have seen some massive vaccination figures come through in the last few months, solidifying a national effort to kick COVID to the curb and get those international borders back open again.

As bookings roll in for the peak Dec period and look to be changing even into our traditional trough months of January and February, excitement is rippling through many tourism businesses as they increase their staff numbers, spruce up their resorts and get their vessels, vehicles and activity products compliant.

Everyone wants to make the reopening work.

And everyone with any attachment to the industry is busy making sure they know what to expect and include the safety compliance requirements that now go with getting a Care Fiji Commitment (CFC) certification or approval to indicate they are ready for visitors.

Without a CFC certification or approval, visitors will be advised to avoid doing business with you.

That’s how serious the industry is.

We need Fiji back in the Best Places to Go for A Holiday list and for anyone worrying about how safe it is to travel to select Fiji based on our preparations to welcome them back safer.

Fiji’s tourism mantra is ‘Let Happiness Find You’ and we know our visitors will find that happiness when they get here.

And when they’re happy and safe, Fiji will be happier. And safer.

By: Fantasha Lockington – CEO, FHTA (Published in the Fiji Times on 21 October 2021)

FHTA, 14 October 2021 – A year ago, the Fiji Hotel and Tourism Association (FHTA) was talking about Fiji’s readiness to welcome back international visitors when our borders reopened.

At the time, Fiji had just opened up its Blue Lane initiative and launched its VIP Lane, which when fully operational were extremely popular with high-end visitors eager to sit out COVID somewhere private and quiet.

Between then and now, there have been countless studies relating to travel restarting and traveller impacts in a pandemic world and the results have not always made positive reading.

However, that was in a world without a COVID vaccine and its ensuing impacts.

So, while the data and information from the various academic and economic modelling and studies have remained conservative or cautiously optimistic at best, the increased vaccine uptake and subsequent reduction in severe illness and death have now instilled more confidence in potential travellers about the safety of tourism hotspots like Fiji.

Spikes in traveller interest and confirmed bookings provide actual data to support this.

And after much anticipation and more pain than anyone cares to remember, the Fijian tourism industry finally heard the Border Reopening Framework announced on perhaps the most appropriate day – Fiji Day.

FHTA has been a very active part of the consultations that took place to get the framework confirmed and as laid out right now, it may look like we’re being overly cautious, but the framework (and the Prime Minister’s announcement), does carry a clear disclaimer that nothing in the framework is irreversible.

But reopening with a more cautionary framework that can be rolled back with some discretion is necessary for this continuing journey of learning to live with COVID.

Plus, we have almost 2 months to get the framework adjusted.

Fiji’s Independence Day celebrations last weekend might have been more muted than in past years, but it certainly proved a great occasion for the announcement for a travel-safe reopening framework, our planned economic recovery and some updated COVID-safety measures as public movement restrictions got lifted.

The lifting of mandatory measures to reduce travel between mainland Viti Levu and other islands received the biggest applause as local families were able to be reunited.

It was also an opportune time to thank Fijians for achieving their 80 percent target for fully vaccinated adults, a whole 3 weeks earlier than anticipated.

With smaller pockets of lower vaccination levels more easily identifiable around the country now, there is widespread hope that coupled with refocused efforts by the Ministry of Health and support from tourism businesses in those areas, we can incentivize those communities to increase their vaccination levels.

While ensuring that these community’s vulnerable members are as protected as possible, declaring these identified areas as “No-Go” zones to all visitors will undoubtedly create further incentives for tourism workers and businesses in the area to support the vaccination messaging.

Fiji still has pockets of low vaccinated numbers due to a mixture of vaccine resistance as well as logistical challenges for getting the vaccines out there, considering the spread of the population along the many inhabited regions in our over 300 group of islands.

But as the good doctor has reminded us often enough, the larger the number of fully vaccinated individuals, the better the protection created for the smaller numbers of unvaccinated and the more vulnerable members of our communities.

Which include our valued senior citizens, our pregnant mothers, our younger children and those with comorbidity issues.

That means that despite relaxed restrictions and more freedom of movement, we cannot let our guards down and must continue to practice social distancing where possible, hand sanitising at every opportunity and mask-wearing as part of everyday habits whenever leaving our bubbles.

With many businesses reopening after months of closure or considering opening and with more staff getting used to working from home, it can be extremely challenging to keep up with the changing requirements.

The key requirements are still in place and the tourism industry is being consistently reminded, even unfairly scrutinized for compliance many believe, to ensure that COVID-safe measures are followed and that complacency not be allowed to creep in.

With Fiji possibly being most recognized for its laid-back approach to living; it can be extremely challenging to reaffirm the need for maintaining vigilance around all things COVID safe – almost an anti-thesis for our most basic belief in “sega na leqa” (no worries).

But that’s what the new normal expects of us now.

Businesses, tourism or otherwise, must realise that entrenching layers of strict controls against (pandemic) disease into their operations, such as safe air, increased ventilation and masking when needed, will ensure that their businesses are far more likely to remain open and not be subject to disruptions, nor lose key staff or customers to illness.

Despite the nation’s vaccination figures, all embedded controls are considered vitally important to protect the health of both staff and customers as immunity to the vaccines is expected to wane and more variants emerge.

Vaccination alone won’t guarantee a COVID-safe workplace.

Science (and experience!!) has shown that even fully vaccinated people can be infected (albeit at a much lower rate) and they can be carriers of the virus (again, at a much lower rate).

We need to continually respect that risk and play our part to ensure that we stop the virus dead in its tracks, at all possible times, whenever and however we can.

In outlining a requirement to have incoming visitors test negative post-arrival before they are allowed unfettered access to any part of Fiji, Fiji’s medical service people are simply trying to protect our vulnerable communities.

This may change as vaccination levels continue to rise and is considered a far better option than controlling what areas visitors were allowed access to.

The Care Fiji Commitment from Tourism Fiji is being updated and strengthened to ensure that we have a reference toolkit and the relevant training on the safety measures that are our first and best line of defence against the virus.

The Fijian tourism industry was built on the lucky combination of a perfect location and the world’s friendliest people.

As Fijians, we are warm, fun-loving and happy.

We make friends with total strangers and welcome people with smiles, kisses, hugs and reassuring embraces.

It has been a difficult ask, but we have had to adjust our usual welcoming and trusting instincts to keep our communities safe.

Now our smiles are from behind a mask.

Not visible but you will see the happiness in our eyes and hear the same warm and friendly welcoming “BULA!”

The changes will not define us and they don’t make us any less welcoming as a people, an industry and a country.

They certainly don’t make us any less Fijian.

If anything, it will show that our smiles have gotten bigger and our appreciation more profound.

We are ready to welcome the world back and with any luck (and more vaccinations completed) will be doing so with visible smiles and warm hugs soon enough.

By: Fantasha Lockington – CEO, FHTA (Published in the Fiji Times on 14 October 2021)