Fiji Hotel and Tourism Association, 10 October 2025 – I often comment that being a small team might actually be our superpower: adaptability, agility, and the ability to be everywhere at once, or at the very least, to give that impression. Every workshop, consultation, and stakeholder meeting we attend is part of a quiet but deliberate campaign ensuring tourism’s impact is not just heard, but understood, defended, and the industry supported to develop and grow sustainably.
Tourism, as in many island countries, ripples through job creation, consistently sparking small business growth, showcasing cultural identities, and its multi-faceted linkages. While visitor arrival and GDP numbers usually steal the headlines, what often goes unseen is how tourism is the thread that ties together the livelihoods of so many Fijians. When the weather turns nasty, reefs suffer damage, energy prices spike, or labour standards slip, that thread frays, and the impact goes far beyond resorts and hotels.
Which is why we’re “everywhere at once”. We’re taking part in policy discussions adding our voice to climate forums, and noting our industry’s real challenges to conservation planning sessions, skilled labour access, employment dialogues, or budget and infrastructure planning. Because tourism must be part of every conversation that shapes its future and, inexorably, our economy.
While Tourism Fiji focuses on marketing our pristine beaches, blue waters, and swaying palm trees, most of our work is done in the background – in meeting rooms and conference centres, and in sessions like the Weather Ready Nation Stakeholders Workshop, organised by the Fiji Meteorological Service, the National Disaster Risk Management Office, and the Hydrological Research Center of the United States. Here, we presented the importance of strengthening partnerships between our industry and meteorological authorities. As an industry that sits on the frontlines of climate risk, experiencing firsthand every cyclone, flash flood, drought, tidal surge or unexpected storm pattern – our responsibilities are tied to visitor safety, supply chains, and community well-being. No one understands early warning systems and forecasting tools that consider the impact on businesses that support livelihoods, vast supply chains, industries and by default, an entire economy, better than us. Resilience planning is a critical part of all of these interconnected elements.
We have also contributed to the critical discussions on skills accessibility. In this area, we have talked to TVET institutions and higher education providers, including new investors looking to fill the current gaps in upskilling provisions. The Pacific Australia Skills Country Planning Consultation, led by Pacific Australia Skills (formerly APTC),
allowed input on workforce mobility and skills recognition. For tourism, this discussion goes to the heart of our industry’s strength: service requires people. Yet across the Pacific, many workers face barriers when qualifications aren’t recognised or mobility frameworks are unclear. We shared ground-level perspectives, the need to align training standards with demand, to ensure that Fijian workers can move, learn, and grow within an increasingly connected Pacific labour market.
Coral reefs, too, remain central to tourism and were the subject of the Fiji National Hub for Coral Reef Conservation Workshop, organised by the Ministry of Environment and Climate in collaboration with the Wildlife Conservation Society. National forums for reef conservation facilitate knowledge sharing and coordination aligned with Fiji’s National Adaptation Plan, National Ocean Policy, and National Biodiversity Strategy Action Plan. Healthy reefs are not only scenic backdrops for tourists; they support marine biodiversity, fisheries, protect our coastlines and are critical food supplies. We are creating awareness of tourism as recognised partners in conservation efforts, rather than external observers, and embedding already adopted sustainable practices into national strategies.
Ethical labour practices are another cornerstone of sustainable tourism. At the Modern Slavery and the Hospitality Sector session, organised by The Mekong Club, we explored how modern slavery risks can emerge in hospitality supply chains and the measures needed to mitigate them. As one of Fiji’s largest employers, we must remain vigilant against exploitation in recruitment and subcontracting. These insights guide our support to members, helping them strengthen compliance, safeguard workers, and uphold the reputation of the industry.
Energy, as a critical operational cost for many tourism operators, especially those in remote islands, takes centre stage with sessions like Climate Talk: Renewable Energy in the Pacific – organised by the Embassy of the Federal Republic of Germany in Suva.
This and other similar forums examine policy innovations and financing solutions for renewable energy adoption. Solar microgrids, hybrid systems, and energy storage provide the opportunity to lower carbon emissions while reducing costs and building resilience.
Resilience to disasters and access to climate change financing is also on our consultation-heavy hit list. The Pacific Disaster Risk Knowledge Series – Event 2, organised by the Asian Development Bank, the Pacific Resilience Partnership, and the Pacific Community, discussed better access to hazard maps, early warning systems, and communication tools. For coastal resorts, island lodges, and dive operations, this data informs evacuation plans, site selection, insurance coverage, and continuity strategies.
We also continue to push forward with our ongoing efforts to understand funding gaps and allocation inequities for climate change finance access. Pacific Island Countries receive 0.03% of the global climate finance commitment annually – far below what’s needed to meet our collective Nationally Determined Contributions (NDCs). Yet experts and consultants from around the world keep telling us we need to do more about the impacts of Climate Change when we contribute less than 0.02% of global greenhouse gas emissions. Despite this minuscule footprint, we are among the most vulnerable to climate change impacts, facing rising sea levels, extreme weather events, and ecosystem degradation. But we press on, also adding our voice to the Climate Resilience Literacy and Mangrove Restoration Workshop that is part of Project Halo – a five-year initiative led by UNSW and the University of the South Pacific in partnership with Swire Shipping, aimed at restoring mangroves and enhancing climate resilience across the Pacific. And we have engaged with WWF to introduce Parametric Insurance awareness for Coral Reef Resilience in Fiji – a project supported by the Asian Development Bank (ADB), the Global Environment Facility (GEF), and the Asia Pacific Climate Finance Fund (ACliFF). Mangroves protect coastlines, sequester carbon, support fisheries, and buffer storms. While climate insurance could support already in-place reef restoration programs that would provide rapid, pre-agreed funding after extreme events, so reef restoration and community support can begin immediately, rather than waiting months for traditional assessments and budget approvals.
Advocacy efforts extend into workshops and forums covering child protection, urban development, and environmental management. The National Child Safeguarding Policy and Panel Discussion on Child Sexual Abuse in Fiji, organised by the Ministry of Women, Children and Social Protection and the Department of Children, is one such session. Protecting children is a fundamental responsibility of tourism operators, especially in family-focused resorts, excursions, and experiences, and is expected of an industry that works closely with communities.
Similarly, a workshop on Strengthening Fiji’s National Plastic and Waste Data Systems, organised by the Ministry of Environment and Climate Change in partnership with UNSW, GOAP, Pew Charitable Trust, and ANZPAC, will help the sector understand how data informs sustainable practices and policy development. We also provide industry insight to the Macroeconomic Forecasting Unit to assist with more accurate forecasting – critical for policy evaluation and to ensure that changes in the economy are accurately reflected.
Advocacy in this manner is the quiet force behind meaningful change, often unseen, yet essential. It enables us to bring lived experience into spaces that might otherwise be dominated by theory, models, or external expertise. Through these engagements, we translate the realities of island life, its constraints, its resilience, its ingenuity, into practical, context-aware recommendations that speak to what actually works on the ground.
In forums often shaped by academic analysis or consultant-heavy lenses and frameworks, we offer what those perspectives often lack: the nuance of navigating fragmented infrastructure, the complexity of community-led adaptation, and the urgency of developing country realities that are not hypothetical, but existential. This allows us to bridge the gap between policy and practice, ensuring that decisions are informed not just by data but influenced by the voices of those living the consequences.
While amplifying challenges, we’re reframing them into actionable insights. Advocacy is how we ensure that island realities are not footnotes in global discussions, but foundational to solutions that are inclusive, effective, and enduring. For US!
While consultants may model scenarios and academics may theorise, we bring the nuance of navigating licensing bottlenecks, climate disruptions, and workforce gaps.
We speak for the small business owner in Savusavu, the dive operator in Taveuni, and the resort manager balancing heavy compliance expectations with guest experience.
That’s the power of showing up, not just to be seen, but to be heard clearly so that we influence the direction of policies, speed up critical change where required and support innovation and action where it is needed.
And we haven’t even touched on our ongoing, but ever so critical work with employers around Fiji, navigating the proposed amendments to the Employment Relations Act.
More on that next week.
Fantasha Lockington – CEO, FHTA (Published in the Fiji Times on 10 October 2025)
Fiji Hotel and Tourism Association
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