Fiji Hotel and Tourism Association, 13 March 2025 – As we enter the second week of March 2025, the Fiji Hotel and Tourism Association (FHTA) is again preparing its National Budget submission, with hopeful anticipation that this year will culminate in some much-needed productivity and reform in our regulatory spaces.
With the Government expected to announce the budget by the end of June, we are working diligently to ensure that the industry’s concerns and priorities – many of which are shared with businesses and sectors that are actively engaged with, or have the intention to engage, with development and infrastructure projects.
Over the years, FHTA has consistently advocated for policy improvements that drill more effectively into how we progress efforts on productivity that in turn impact how we manage our long and short-term development plans efficiently – meaning we get plans approved, complete them on time, within budget, and to expectations.
We do not doubt that if we were to compile a list of public sector infrastructure and development projects – regardless of which agency they came under, there would be very few that could meet these aspirational expectations. This is because the public sector has joined the private sector in echoing the reasons it takes so long to move critical projects off an approved and budgeted list to bring the project to fruition, citing the absence of critically skilled staff and regulatory approval processes holding up the bulk of the expected timeframes.
But back to budget expectations – with the general perception being that many private sector recommendations are either shelved or ignored, leaving many in a cycle of repeating the same concerns year after year, or simply not bothering any more.
We say to everyone feeling ignored, that you need to persevere with your submissions and ensure these are well articulated noting your current experiences, your business or sectors’ plans and how they support the Governments own National Development Plans
While our budget submissions often end up being a slightly edited version of the one before it because so many critical issues might appear to have remained unaddressed, it is the Fijian population for whom these budgets are aimed, that must ensure our policymakers understand what is not working, what must be improved and even how these can be better addressed. After all, we are – as citizens and businesses, on the receiving end of the national budgets’ impact.
The purpose of national budgets is multifaceted and critical for governance and economic management with key objectives embracing resource allocation, revenue generation, expenditure control, development planning and the addressing of social inequality.
In resource allocation for example, we expect the budget to outline how resources will be distributed among various sectors, such as healthcare, education, infrastructure, and defence that ensures funding aligns with the government’s priorities and objectives.
Our hope would be that all these areas except for defence, is given far more significant priority and that taxation policies and Fiji’s far smaller number of revenue mechanisms available remain balanced.
For defence spending, it is in the national interest that more budgeting emphasis is allocated to the police and even corrections services, rather than on the military with our far higher reliance on the police for the protection and safety of our citizens, their homes and businesses and their ability to cope with growing crime rates and increasing incidents involving drugs.
In essence, national budgets act as a roadmap for achieving our economic and social goals while maintaining fiscal discipline. Unfortunately, this currently involves far less accountability than is expected from the many ministries we rely on to deliver their services efficiently.
So what are the key economic issues that requires us to submit our individual, sectoral or industry-specific budget recommendations?
At the top of the list for all concerned will be efficiency and productivity from our public sector agencies that we rely on to process licenses, permits, approvals and the general “go-ahead” piece of paper required to do anything from open a business, operate legally, drive, get married, get buried, extend your building, or commence construction work on a piece of land.
There is an entire army of civil servants who do not understand why they should turn around an application as quickly as they can, rather than weeks, months, or even years later. Many of them know that the processes they take part in that push bits of paper, or digital sign-offs across many other desks can be significantly improved but either choose not to do anything about them or have given up trying.
There is not enough space here to discuss the hurdles with Immigration to bring in skilled foreign workers, or the circles we are made to run in when trying to get bond refunds amounting to hundreds of thousands of dollars (if we include every other industry other than tourism), despite providing all the required paperwork confirming the bonds were paid and are now repayable.
Then there are all the elements involved in development planning, which should serve as part of our country’s plans for diversifying the economy, refocusing efforts on improving health care services for the public, providing more jobs, pushing educational reforms, and addressing the dilapidated state of many roads and bridges.
If we add the currently unequal access to water and power, our poor uptake of renewable energy to offset high energy demand and the extremely slow efforts to address aged waste management infrastructure; it might be easier to understand why private sector development in tourism, commercial and manufacturing lag 6, 12 and 24 months behind schedule.
The extended timeframes for construction and development are due to the need to look for workarounds for power, water and waste management accessibility, which is then further delayed by the well-known, complicated approval processes between the development and construction phases
Delayed projects, delayed investments and the usual list of reasons from long approval times, access to skilled labour and generally widespread bureaucracy in a time when digital services have been consistently upsold in the public sector, have become Fiji’s unwelcome reputation that we believe will drive potential investors away if not addressed with the urgency it must be.
We know many people will discuss the cost of doing business as a key challenge.
Suffice to say here, is that the areas discussed above add to these costs.
Being compliant in the business environment is not simple. At. All.
While often unintentional; non-compliance is resorted to because compliance requirements are generally complicated, need businesses to deal with often surly (or absent) civil servants and are usually a convoluted process that is open to interpretation depending on the agency and office location.
Then there are Fiji’s new and growing challenges.
These include addressing a drug problem we do not have the skills or expertise to understand and manage, along with dealing with how drugs are imported, and therefore the level of corruption that would have to exist for this to have been enabled at the level it has been now.
It also includes how we deal with the repercussions of drugs in our communities and on our social structures, for which we do not have the expertise or facilities to properly address, or to develop the programs that allow us to educate our children and the population generally.
The other challenge that comes naturally with economic growth and the development of more industries and sectors that tend to be located in urban areas, is affordable housing. If we expect growth in the tourism hot spots, in regions earmarked for industrialisation and the expansion of manufacturing; then too we must expect that these areas will become hubs for workers, and workers need access to affordable housing.
If we have learnt anything about the Central Division, it must be that we are now more cognizant of urban and peri-urban areas bulging out of their demarcated zones to include rapidly expanding squatter housing settlements. These eventually put unmanageable demands on water, power, waste collection and waste management (sewer) services, and make these supply lines rapidly inefficient, with user-pay systems or rates so outdated, our local government and municipal councils cannot cope.
The other explosive impact is on our road systems, ramping up demand and therefore chaos during peak times and bad weather.
Planning for affordable housing products as large, multi-faceted projects in inaccessible areas where growth and development is already surfacing is key for government to consider now before we see a repeat of what has happened in the Suva – Nausori corridor.
With the cost of owning a piece of land to build a house on becoming quickly unaffordable to most working households earning $100,000 or less annually, a possible solution is high rise flats that can be rented-to-own on a long term basis.
Finally, sustainability is a necessity.
We continue to advocate for policies that encourage and support sustainable initiatives, regardless of what sector is expanding or developing.
Incentives for eco-friendly developments, waste management improvements and recycling, as well as conservation efforts, would reinforce efforts to protect and improve our environment now.
Whatever your current challenge – provide your recommended solution in your budget submission as well.
We certainly will.
Fantasha Lockington – CEO, FHTA (Published in the Fiji Times on 13 March 2025)
Fiji Hotel and Tourism Association
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