Fiji Hotel and Tourism Association

FHTA, 16 September 2021 – In these times of uncertainty and massive job losses brought on by the global pandemic, there have been many people who have continued working quietly behind the scenes that have gone almost unnoticed.

For the tourism industry, this includes those who have been retained to keep resorts clean and safe whether they remained open for guests or were part of reduced staff numbers in closed but maintained properties.

Pre-COVID, their work contribution was part of a larger army of workers tasked with ensuring guests had fresh linen on beds and in bathrooms, ensuring floors and windows were sparkling and that bathrooms and public areas were sanitised to required standards.

All these cleaning standards have since seen a massive overhaul from the manner of cleaning, products used, sanitising methods, protective equipment worn during the actual work and even the frequency with which specific areas have to be cleaned.

Cleaning, maintenance, laundry and service staff have had their usual cleaning tasks taken apart and rewritten and the importance of their jobs are now critical layers of safety elevated to provide the confidence to other staff and guests that work and rest areas are not just clean, but sufficiently sanitised against COVID.

Fittingly, this week sees the commemoration of International Housekeepers and Environmental Services Week.

The week is dedicated to recognising and appreciating the hard work of these essential staff members who we might usually take for granted.

But the world views cleaning in a different light than in recent years, and the work that they do now is essential to our health and safety.

Globally, the tourism industry has always had a host of recognition awards for these staff to be celebrated and appreciated, in the process of encouraging great performance and continually improve standards.

We join hospitality stakeholders around the world in celebrating these often-underappreciated cleaning and maintenance staff who will continue working even harder now behind the scenes so that we can enjoy our holidays in clean and safe surroundings.

And speaking of holidays, it appears the central division is holding its collective breath for word on the lifting of our internal borders; no doubt to plan their mad sprints across the Melrose Bridge to get out of a wet capital city and into the drier, sunnier west.

With expectations for 80% of our eligible population to be fully vaccinated by later this year, tourism operators have been buoyed by the news that the Fijian borders will finally be opened up before year-end, if not earlier.

Indications are that Fiji will be announcing formally that it is ready to safely welcome back international visitors, so the industry has swung back into preparation mode noting it only has a few months to go from zero to hero, with safety at the very heart of all things the industry must do while it dusts off its red carpet in anticipation.

But it has not been a matter of simply getting back into the swing of things. Tourism businesses whether fully opened, completely closed or operating at a fraction of their full operations have a host of challenges to get through depending on their location.

With regional lockdowns still in place, island-based resorts are struggling to get staff out from out of bounds mainland areas, unless they can manage 14-day quarantine stays for their staff and can pay for health and inspection staff, as well as testing costs.

While only mainland Viti Levu is expected to have restricted movements lifted at 60% full vaccination point; this is expected to create an exciting demand for local holidays with schools still closed, many still working from home, and families needing a break from staying at home because parks, pools, restaurants, cinemas and sports have been closed for months.

The demand for a domestic holiday, however short, has been getting fuelled for months with resorts getting increasing enquiries via their web and social media sites.

The demand is not just for Fiji’s mainland hotspots.

Fiji’s other favourite tourism playgrounds will be ready for domestic and international tourism as well and include our northern neighbours, the Mamanuca and Yasawa Islands and the smaller, but just as friendly islands off our eastern and southern coasts.

And tourism operators will no doubt welcome the opportunity to open up more rooms, bring in more staff, test that everything is working as it should, trial enhanced COVID safe protocols and monitor the popularity of any refurbishments or extensions done during the downtime.

While every happy, local holiday moment shared on social media is bound to support Fiji’s positive messaging that we are open and ready to welcome visitors.

Reopening the borders to international visitors also means embracing a host of new compliance requirements for operators.

From staff being fully vaccinated to testing requirements and safe operation certifications; everyone involved from supply chain to delivery is aware that they need to get the safety aspect right.

With wide consultations taking place, these will be covered broadly in a Reopening Framework that will cover the safety of visitors and locals while eventually easing restrictions to increase Fiji’s attractiveness as a holiday destination.

There is work being carried out in the background on vaccine passports that can be recognised internationally, as well as reviewing testing requirements and frequencies based on where visitors are coming from while trying to stay abreast of the ever-evolving science on COVID.

Preparations are well underway for flight scheduling and destination marketing to go to the next level, for markets the industry is hoping will be just as ready as we are with their own scaled up vaccination programs.

But it is not just about how ready Fiji will be.

It is also ensuring we have sufficiently covered our visitor expectations when they arrive so that their much-awaited holidays are what we are promising they will be.

Thrilling, safe and as unrestricted as possible.

Anything other than that and we risk losing potential visitors to other destinations able to offer more acceptable solutions to travelling safely in a post-COVID world.

And even before those borders open, another critical season opens for Fiji that always remains firmly on every tourism operator’s mind.
Cyclone season.

This too is always a key part of every operator’s budget and planning process with insurance, inspections and preparations for any weather event being a background but critical part of ensuring vacations in Fiji can and do remain as safe as possible.

As we firm up the finer details of Fiji’s reopening framework and move closer to the vaccination target, preparations will rapidly increase in pace.

At a recent seminar, an economics academic noted that from his modelling, tourism in Fiji was unlikely to go back to pre-COVID levels despite the positivity of the industry.

I was reminded that twenty years ago, other experts had opined that Fiji would never recover from its political coups or its many devastating cyclones and floods.

But Fiji has persevered. Sometimes with difficulty, but persevered nonetheless.

And through it all, tourism has remained and grown.

By: Fantasha Lockington – CEO, FHTA (Published in the Fiji Times on 16 September 2021)

FHTA, 9 September 2021 – Last weekend, fully vaccinated Fijians inched past the 50 percent rate and over the last few days, this increased by 3 percent.

While the vaccination rates have been cause for celebration around the country (in our bubbles of course) with the curfew time decreasing by another much appreciated hour; there is growing excitement that Fiji will soon see the end of containment zones, and therefore easier access to loved ones, and the complete lifting of curfews eventually.

The increasing uptake of vaccinations may be a combination of the positive communication on the benefits of the vaccine finally outweighing the negative social media initially surrounding it, as well as the devastating impact on Fijian families dealing first hand with the severe complications or deaths from COVID.

Fiji is essentially a communal based society. Sudden severe illness and high numbers of death in communities make a far more shattering impact on closely linked families, villages and communities tied by their blood, marriages, land and historical links.

Sharing everything is cultural as well as economic, and sharing a painful loss is a key thread in that communal fabric that makes up Fijian societies.

The commercial, employment and economic impacts would have been secondary to the larger part of the population that have eventually embraced the need for vaccinations now.

And if we were to make projections from the numbers of first vaccine doses, we should see at least 96 percent of eligible adults being inoculated in the coming months.

This bodes very well for the tourism industry and along with the other commercial sectors watching those vaccination numbers climb, is a step in the right direction for our economic recovery.

Fiji now has over 14,404 active cases and this has dropped significantly during this second wave because we have not been actively going into communities to test the afflicted.

With about 47,923 confirmed COVID-19 cases since April this year and only those that present themselves to health authorities being tested and treated, the decline in reported confirmed cases is understandable.

This means that while there might be many other cases in the community, because of genetics or healthier groups, symptoms are far milder with a headache and cough being experienced by most people.

Of more importance is the fact that our daily test positivity rate has dropped by 15 percent from 36 percent only a few weeks ago.

Fiji is eagerly awaiting the more promised donations of the Pfizer or Moderna vaccine doses to vaccinate our younger population.

But with what science is telling us, we realise we will not be able to return to a COVID-zero status as originally thought.

And as the good doctor has noted, the herd immunity we were initially aiming for may not be achievable after all.

While the threshold for herd immunity was thought achievable only with high vaccination rates, as the pandemic entered its second year this thinking began to shift.

A combination of vaccine hesitancy including the speed and distribution of the vaccine, the emergence of aggressive new variants and the delayed confirmation of vaccination for children have been key factors.

As FHTA has shared in this forum before, we must be prepared to have the virus in our lives forever, with long term prospects that include COVID-19 becoming an endemic disease like influenza.

With that being the case, we must adjust our planning, resources and protocols towards that eventuation.

It wasn’t always a foregone conclusion that Covid-19 would become endemic. For a while, the hope was that vaccines might allow countries to reach a level of herd immunity that would stomp out the virus almost entirely.

But because Delta spreads so quickly, experts have ruled that herd immunity is no longer realistic and now considered impossible.

As with all challenges and as part of a “know your enemy” strategy, we have been voracious in our search for more information and understanding about the virus and how businesses can continue to operate now and into the future.

The Tourism Recovery Taskforce continues to meet regularly to prepare the industry for the eventual reopening of borders, particularly in light of the Government’s pledge to do so at 80 percent of fully vaccinated eligible adults.

But what does that mean for visitors who come into the country? How can we ensure their safety if the Delta variant is lying dormant in our communities, waiting for a new host, or worse than it is allowed in from another country?

That’s why Fiji will need all travellers coming into the country to be fully vaccinated with tourism industry staff required to be fully vaccinated as well if their place of business expects to be included in the “Care Fiji Commitment” (CFC) approved traveller lists.

In the meantime, as we get our vaccinated numbers up, domestic tourism looks to get a boost in the coming weeks as we hit the magic 60 percent figure which Government has advised will be the catalyst to open the current containment areas that separate geographical regions.

While many are simply waiting for the local borders to open so they can return to their homes or see family members again, we know many have endured Fiji’s version of lockdowns, which cannot wait to take a mini-vacation anywhere far from the city.

The uptake in domestic tourism once containment areas are removed is expected to provide an opportunity for our tourism members to test their updated COVID-safe procedures and protocols. It will also allow their CFC-approved Wellness Ambassadors to step up their roles to ensure compliance from both staff and guests.

The industry is adding layers to its processes that are expected to safely manage domestic and international travellers depending on their places of origin.

Even with the introduction of new traffic light systems, travel corridors and bubbles that will henceforth define what our future mobility will look like, the focus on vaccination programs remains a priority for Fiji, and many other countries.

All segments of tourism have been reviewing their business strategies and re-evaluating their products and services to fit a world emerging differently.

Adding the extra layers is causing some angst between the travellers and businesses with airlines arguing with airport authorities that the increasing check-in or departure protocols are unviable.

While hotels, tour and transport companies are still debating added new protocols are being demanded by the medical or regulatory authorities.

Eventually, we do not doubt that the blurred line between being overly cautious and the rapidly evolving understanding of the virus’ contagiousness will clear up in time for everyone to get back some form of normalcy or engage in practical safety protocols.

People want to regain lost freedom of movement, businesses want to really start working, workers need their jobs back and from where we’re sitting; we know travellers want to REALLY start travelling the world again.

And for all these things to happen, we need to carefully navigate a safe path back that clearly articulates trigger points and provisions for scaling up or down depending on the scenario unfolding.

Then the green light for Fiji can go back on.

By: Fantasha Lockington – CEO, FHTA (Published in the Fiji Times on 9 September 2021)

FHTA, 2 September 2021 – What is the value of a minute to you? Is it an individual measurement tool or do you feel that it plays a part in the big picture?

How much does your time matter to you now in this pandemic season?

Time is a great equalizer and it is our most valuable commodity.

We can certainly give time to something but we’re surely not going to get any more of it than we’re owed.

In the tourism industry specifically, time is money and if time isn’t being used productively to secure a bottom-line, it is considered wasted. And right now, when your revenue earning capacity has been severely depleted, anything wasted, including time, is nothing short of throwing money out the window.

The Delta variant of the COVID-19 virus continues to rage against the masses.

Just when countries think they’ve defeated it, another case pops up in the community.

Our neighbours and key tourism markets Australia and New Zealand find themselves now dealing with an enemy that we hope we’re seeing the tail end of here, as a new wave slowly makes its way through their populace.

While acknowledging people will get sick, Australia has listed the reasons it could get on with the new normal and treat COVID like other infectious diseases: achieving vaccination targets, a strong public health system, retaining common-sense public hygiene measures, and using more effective treatments for Covid-19.

The Aussies fully expect case numbers to rise when retractions are relaxed as inevitable.

The World Health Organisation reports that globally, as of 30 August 2021, there have been 216,229,741 confirmed cases of COVID-19, including 4,496,681 reported deaths.

By now Fiji is well-versed with the devastation that the virus can and has created and, it has been a painful learning experience for island populations where communal living exacerbates the virus’s ability to rapidly move through communities where sharing resources and close living circumstances is normal.

Despite this, in the next few months, the country will hit its target of fully vaccinated adults which will be the precursor to opening up those borders that we know have been shut now for 18 long months.

According to WHO records, as of last weekend, a total of 4,953,887,422 vaccine doses have been administered worldwide.

As of 29 August, 558,944 adults in Fiji have received their first dose of the vaccine and 266,608 have received their second doses. This means that 95.3% of the target population have received at least one dose and 45.4% are now fully vaccinated nationwide, with expectations that these figures will continue to increase.

So as discussions and plans for what the reopening framework will entail getting fine-tuned, tourism continues its steady preparation to greet the world.

Whether we open in November or December, not every business will open at the same time, preferring instead to manage their openings based on booking numbers and factoring into their preparations the long list of compliance requirements that must be in place first.

The tourism sector will be keeping an ear to the ground to find out what travel protocols will be implemented to ensure safe surroundings and travel for both the visitor and the local staff.

If our potential visitors will have to quarantine upon arrival for the usual 14 days, there is no doubt this will be a deterrent to many potential travellers because realistically, visitors aren’t interested in spending two weeks locked up in a hotel room.

But if it is based on how bad the COVID situation is in their countries of origin then it would make more practical sense.

A solid line of thinking, however, asks why, if Fijians are vaccinated and our guests are vaccinated, is it still necessary to enter quarantine at all?

Especially if the visitors have had to undergo a PCR test for COVID-19 before arrival at our International Airport.

If we have widespread cases, active and recovered, of the Delta variant and our guests come from countries who are also going through second and third waves of infections, why do guests have to enter quarantine?

There is more acceptance now that COVID-19 will never be eradicated and that we would do well to learn to live with it.

Globally, it may very well replace the common flu and booster shots of the vaccine may become commonplace for everyone, post full vaccination.

The Centres for Disease Control and Prevention in the United States has approved travel for millions of vaccinated Americans who have started planning trips abroad.

Several countries in Europe, Asia and Africa have started welcoming international visitors but with new and unique rules for vaccinated travellers.
Visitors in Hawaii are being offered free vaccinations with additional shopping discounts and giveaways. All of this is courtesy of the State of Hawaii and the Hawaiian taxpayers.

Thailand’s private sector is proposing a Bangkok Tourism Sandbox model, hoping for the re-opening of businesses, but with customers limited to vaccinated people.

Fiji’s own Care Fiji Commitment (CFC) will prove to be very important when potential visitors are booking their trips because we fully expect that the CFC will help to instil confidence and trust in our COVID-safe processes, internally and externally.
American actor Milton Berle said, “If opportunity doesn’t knock, build a door.”

For us, that’ll mean having to appeal to new markets to widen our pull. If Australia and New Zealand do not get a handle on the current outbreaks, we may have to look elsewhere for visitors and their dollars.

Time will tell. And we already working against the clock.

By: Fantasha Lockington – CEO, FHTA (Published in the Fiji Times on 2 September 2021)

FHTA, 26 August 2021 – It is true that when tourism in Fiji is rebooted, it must be geared toward more sustainable practices.

These are principles that refer to the environmental, economic, and socio-cultural aspects of tourism development, and a suitable balance must be established.

It can only benefit Fiji in the medium and long term. However true sustainability cannot be achieved without diversity and inclusion in all areas.

This will be critical as we build Fiji back better.

The global tourism market is in tatters due to the pandemic and once the rampant virus has been reined in, we can expect a rush on consumers as we have never seen before.

All the world’s hotspots will be pushing their deals and attractions to attract visitors to their locales but this global reset is an opportune time to try and better understand consumer travel preferences and habits.

Tourism can no longer rely on the ways of old to entice potential tourists and recent studies have shown us that these travellers will demand far more from their destinations and their newfound freedom to travel.

Travellers have also changed their priorities and Fiji must adapt or lose out to other destinations.

When we listen and celebrate what is both common and different, we will undoubtedly become a smarter, more inclusive and successful industry.

If we put ourselves in the shoes of the traveller and consider all that they will undergo before, during and after their trip to our shores, we can redefine ourselves to improve our service delivery and product offerings.

This is slightly different from the usual 360-degree check on what you’re offering with an actual “take a walk in the customer’s shoes” to see how you would be perceived by a paying customer. And this might not apply just to tourism businesses, but to any business with customers, they need to capture and retain.

This is going to be a critical element to understanding the post-COVID traveller and it correlates eventually to our national economic success as we come out of the current abyss of high unemployment, low revenue and reduced demand.

Our tourism products, services and our marketing efforts must all be geared towards diversity and inclusion. If you haven’t already, you should be continually asking if your current marketing activity is only aimed at your traditional key markets or whether it is now more inclusive of wider or even newer markets.

Whether we are reaching a wider audience than pre-COVID times because of COVID’s impact on different parts of society, different regions and even different demographics.

While some consumers have indicated a preference for all-inclusive pricing with quality value positioning, others have completely changed their preferences based on whether they want to socialise with people and cultures more or select from options offering wide open spaces and all things nature-based.

Such has been the impact of lockdowns, months of separation, working from home and limitations on the freedom of movement that there is a whole plethora of data available now, including the spotlight on mental health issues.

In the wake of the constant lockdowns and restrictions due to the pandemic, there have also been protests, riots and pushbacks to regain those freedoms, with an avalanche of these being vocalised via the internet on blog sites and social media and no doubt mountains of submissions to government representatives globally.

Many governments around the world have been caught between facing criticism if they fail to adequately protect their populations from the virus or if they remove certain freedoms as part of their often well-meaning, science-based protection measures.

It has been long debated that governments have applied public health measures and economic stimulus with varying intensities and as a result, have experienced very different results on mortality and their economies.

And while this debate has raged for close to a year, what is increasingly clear from reports is that no country has been able to keep its economy moving well without taking control of the virus at the same time.

As a small island nation, therefore, facing the same “enemy” with far more financial, social, medical and economic disadvantages; our responses to the pandemic might not be perfect or popular, but as we near what we believe might be the final leg of the home run to reopening of borders, it is way past time to be looking ahead with our rapidly increasing vaccination rates allowing us to plan accordingly.

The focus is now on what we are learning and what the last sixteen months of survey statistics are telling us as a weary world looks to free itself from limited freedoms of movement.

We know more and more people are appreciating nature and outdoor activities than ever before and that never has the focus on taking a holiday overseas been such a global trend.

This change in perspective can be built into our tourism products and services, or extended to incorporate them because we have the resources available that can be harnessed with a bit of effort.

These same analysed surveys and in-depth studies have placed more importance on people’s mental and physical health and wellness.

An area that Fiji and the Pacific Island’s generally have always done well as part of the many facets to our tourism offerings.

But apparently, this is not just for us to consider for our international visitors.

Health and wellness must also be part of the responsibility of organisations for their staff wellness.

Personal wellness allows people to be improved versions of themselves, balancing their life and managing stress and therefore your customers’ needs.

Win/Win.

Travellers have indicated a preference for more cultural immersions with a strong sustainability component woven into it, and Fiji is more than capable of offering this especially now that we are increasingly demanding and addressing issues on climate change and protection of the pristine environments that we are protagonists for.

This goes beyond the swaying palm trees and white sandy beaches that epitomises Fiji and increasing our options that will undoubtedly value add to the unbeatable element of unique Fijian relaxation.

The tourism sector in Fiji must evolve with the times and everything must now be accessible to the potential visitor through their devices – most of all, their smartphones.

How ready will you be? Does your target market know what you have and can they see what you have to offer? Will they be able to book directly? Is there room for price concessions? What does your website look like when viewed on a smartphone? Is someone answering a phone contact or email you have provided?

It might be marketing 101 but we are in new territory now and the “same old” is not going to give us the competitive edge we desperately need.

The internet can be a lawless wasteland but if harnessed correctly, it can be the best money and skill you spend to get your product out there.

We are getting ready to must ensure that eventually all of our future visitors receive an experience like no other, that they have no hesitation in talking about and spreading positive information about their holidays in Fiji.

For that to work, it will take a collective effort from all stakeholders in tourism and that includes the people taking or changing their bookings, the flight attendants, the taxi and bus drivers, the cleaners, the entertainers and the tour guides.

Before they even get to their resort room and the adventure that awaits.

A weary world once let loose will be looking for Fiji’s ancient “Sega Na Leqa” that has been in place long before they knew they needed “Hakuna Matata”.

No worries. We always had this.

By: Fantasha Lockington – CEO, FHTA (Published in the Fiji Times on 26 August 2021)

FHTA, 19 August 2021 – From creation, production, distribution to access, no part of the economic value chain has been spared the impact of the COVID-19 pandemic.

As tourism counts down to 01 December for a potential reopening of borders, we are aware that we cannot simply just go back to how things were.

The United Nations declared 2021 as the International Year of the Creative Economy for Sustainable Development. While in the middle of a pandemic, it is still quite timely as nations prepare for collective returns to normalcy, or near normal, if they haven’t already.

With various versions of lockdowns taking place around the world over the last six months, no country’s citizens were ever satisfied with their particular version, length or management.

And as a cautious world emerges from being restricted to particular areas, limited to bubble sizes and kept from work, education, athletic pursuits or socialising; there has been collective testing of the waters to tentatively access greater freedoms. And travel.

While Fiji is not quite there yet, having just drawn a line in the sand with an indicative date for when we believe we might be ready to cross that line and reopen our borders; we do so cautiously as well whilst constantly moving our plans forward.

In any preparation for a big event, there is obviously a long list of “Things to Do” that are high level, and therefore usually discussed at a national level with deliberations on strategies and phased plans, while medium level items are then dispatched to organisations, associations and committees to commence said phases and get the communication process underway.

Then there is lower-level stuff that forms what we might call the “meat and potatoes”, or if we have to localize the phrase; the curry in the roti or even the chicken in the lovo.

Basically, how it all comes together.

And for the majority of businesses who have to work towards a reopening, without a clear strategy or plan shared with them, they will continue marching on towards the point in time already indicated and continue with their plans and timelines for preparation.

The pandemic enforced current economic situation has already provided many businesses with a savvy understanding of what needs to happen before their operations can reopen. Many tourism operators therefore only needed that confirmation of a reopening timeframe as a precursor to many of their plans being brought online.

So, with the “Go” signal effectively made, the reopening timer has been set and this has set in motion a whole host of activities industry-wide.

While it might have appeared, there was very little going on with large marine transport vessels anchored out for months, tourist transport buses parked neatly in rows at depots and lowered boom gates signalled closed resorts; there has been quiet buzzing behind the scenes as operators have worked with their finance teams, their bankers and their HR and operations teams to rationalise or update plans from a list of planned scenarios.

Starting with budgets and moving through the big-ticket items on plans for staffing, training timetables, operational and maintenance needs, stock replenishing, marketing and finally to schedules; regardless of which sort of tourism business they are in, activity levels have moved up a notch or two and have several more layers to move through yet.

It might not be as well known, but there are many agencies out there that have been engaged with the Fiji Hotel & Tourism Association (FHTA) in our efforts to protect the industry and ensure its survival during these last sixteen months.

These include the Association of Banks to request more empathy for the SMEs in the industry that we could not afford to lose. The marine and land transport regulators as well as the licensing agencies for hotels were approached to consider more sustainable options for compliance on licensing and penalty fees.

Discussions and consultations also took place with the Reserve Bank, relevant ministries, the Immigration Department, the iTaukei Land Trust Board and the Fiji Revenue & Customs Service management to discuss tourism challenges with closed borders and the need to ensure the industry could survive the crisis.

With each agency, we discussed support mechanisms, more empathic payment terms or requested extensions to the normal compliance timeframes and the need to hold off on the usual penalties.

Encouraged by the support from the Ministry for Commerce, Trade, Tourism & Transport (MCTTT); we were able to buy valuable breathing space for many of our grateful members.

What would Fiji’s tourism industry be without a range of exciting activities, adventure sports and locally influenced accommodation options to choose from?
Without a diverse range of products and services ready for when borders reopened, Fiji would lose its renowned competitive edge and its fierce endeavour to consistently deliver way above Pacific Island expectations.

Without these businesses being able to restart, we could not reemploy over 100,000 workers that are still waiting to be called back to work.

Our talented artists in tourism that include the cultural dancers and singers, musicians and artisans have no creative outlet and our young entrepreneurs in events planning, media and food and beverage suppliers never get back the opportunities to showcase their skills.

Many of these people have not been able to earn their usual wage, if at all, during this health crisis and some may not even qualify for assistance or support afforded to other workers in the hospitality sector.

Under the current theme for 2021, the UN attempts to highlight the power of creativity for resilience in times of pandemic and to share best practices and experiences, build human resource capacity, promote an enabling environment at all levels and address the challenges of the creative economy.

Nowhere else is creativity more supported than in tourism which by its nature can provide more opportunities and testing platforms for creative spirits and budding entrepreneurs.

Our visitors will need more than a hotel room to convince them to return. And we are under no illusions as to the importance of instilling the required confidence that Fiji will be as safe as it can be when they have to make those decisions.

Our destination marketing will be kicking into high gear soon and the message of safety as a key concern and priority will no doubt be a part of it.

In an inextricably linked, long chain of tourism businesses, employees, suppliers, communities and young people getting ready to move in with their energy; the industry’s usual collective working rhythm for the same goals has taken on a higher, more defined meaning.

Collectively they understand what is at stake.

They understand what needs to be done. As difficult as it was always going to be.

And everyone is getting ready to take their places for that big reopening.

By: Fantasha Lockington – CEO, FHTA (Published in the Fiji Times on 19 August 2021)

FHTA, 12 August 2021 – As Fiji surpasses 90 percent of first vaccine doses completed and 35 percent of fully vaccinated eligible adults, the tourism industry continues to pay close attention to these figures.

It is becoming far more widely accepted now that ensuring we get more than 80% of our eligible population vaccinated is the only way we are going to get anywhere near our previous way of life back.

It is heartening to see that many Fijians have lined up to get their vaccine jab at least once and we remain optimistic that more people are becoming convinced of the science showing that vaccines really do work to protect us.

In the midst of the whirlwind of the worrying updates of new confirmed cases and fatalities from COVID-19, one can’t help but be awed by the fact that the majority of Fijians have banded together to take the necessary step of vaccination.

On the flip side, the rising anger on social media with those that continue to advocate against the vaccine’s benefits is both tragic and funny at the same time.

Arnold Schwarzenegger’s recent post, for example, was both hilarious as well as sobering; reminding us to listen to experts like him if we want to build biceps and to listen to Dr Fauci and the virologists if we want to understand viruses and vaccines.

He finishes his advice by adding that “weakness is thinking that we don’t need expert advice and only listening to sources that confirm what we want to hear”.

And we most certainly did not expect such pearls of wisdom to come from the world’s best bodybuilder and ex-US Governor. But there you go.

In a time of great uncertainty where days, weeks and now 16 months have gone by, it appears we are stuck in a crazy Groundhog Day rotation of the same old, with the expected virus flattening “spring” nowhere in sight.

We should therefore be expecting not only a certain amount of impatience and angst about restricted movements, containment zones and new rules for simply getting on with life as we know it now, but a general tuning into other shared views of great conspiracies, vague prophesies and generally wacky theories that sound far more exciting in comparison to what is becoming a very tedious way to live life.

Unfortunately for those in the tourism industry, there has been very little time for navel gazing and introspective reflections.

When you are busy beating off debtors, bankers and suppliers demanding cash-only transactions from your almost difficult to locate door because of the overgrown weeds, there is only the focus of keeping your business from going completely under and planning how you can get back up again in time to meet that border reopening springtime.

There is a quiet confidence that the planned relaxation of restrictions once the 80 percent vaccination target has been successful, will take place. Quiet, because many heads are still down with a preoccupied focus on the mammoth task ahead of them and therefore very little time to get caught up in anything other than how they continue to move ever forward.

With global tourism still far lower than predicted since March 2020 despite the increasing number of countries that have either fully opened their borders or nervously trialling phased reopening’s, we are keeping a watchful eye on how they are all progressing to learn what we can.

There are varying degrees of success with opening borders to vaccinated travellers or based on their originating destinations, as well as travel bubbles between countries. Some have simpler rules in place because they share national borders, currencies and infrastructure access that make border control regulations easier to manage.

Others have had to constantly revaluate their activities, border control measures or review any planned implementation because of unexpected breaches of particular processes failing.

Calls for more rational and evidence-based border policies and regulations aside, we can never be sure anything will work exactly as we expect it to because we are dealing with a pandemic that has far outstripped every limitation that has been placed on it.

New Zealand, having enjoyed a trans-Tasman bubble agreement with Australia, have had to pause quarantine-free travel between the two countries as the continuing spread of the Covid-19 Delta variant in Australia has all parties concerned and rightly worried about potential risks.

Their trans-Tasman bubble was suspended for two months from 24 July as Australia also struggles to contain this current outbreak.
Fiji and other Pacific Islands have been extremely lucky that Australia, New Zealand, the US and other countries continue to provide assistance in the form of vaccines and medical expertise.

And understanding the critically challenged health system and heavily pressured staff of the Ministry of Health and Medical Services; no doubt that assistance is indeed welcome.

The point here is, even those we consider experts are still learning how best to grapple with the current situation. Whether you are a virologist or epidemiologist, you’re still learning how to outsmart a deviously clever virus whose sole purpose of existence is to recreate itself constantly.

And whether you are a border control manager, a world leader or the head of the health ministry, each one is trying to do their best within their means, to manage their responsibility for keeping people safe from this virus.

The increasing numbers of rabbit holes of misinformation that Big Arnie refers to, therefore, simply makes their jobs an onerous and uphill battle.

We are trying to make a small difference, but a difference nonetheless with our tourism vuvale assisting the health teams wherever and whenever possible.
In the last few weeks, this partnership and support from tourism operators in the area pitching in saw the rollout of vaccination programs in the Yasawa group of islands where many districts and villages in the region were provided vaccine information and agreed to be vaccinated.

Congratulations also to the medical teams that were responsible for getting information and vaccines out to the islands in the Lau group from where scenes of celebration have been shared widely.

We have shared in this weekly forum before that the industry has recognised that vaccinations will be a key milestone to reopening borders globally and many tourism operators are doing everything feasibly possible to see this eventuate.

The World Tourism Organisation reports that global tourist numbers are down 83% in the first quarter of 2021 due to the travel restrictions currently in place for most countries.

However, their Confidence Index shows signs of a slow uptick in that confidence.

Not unexpectedly, between January and March of 2021, world destinations welcomed 180 million fewer international arrivals compared to the first quarter of 2020.

Our own region under the Asia and the Pacific category continued to suffer the lowest levels of activity with a staggering 94% drop in international arrivals in the first quarter.

Europe recorded the second-largest decline with -83%, followed by Africa (-81%), the Middle East (-78%) and the Americas (-71%).

This all follows on from the 73% fall in worldwide international tourist arrivals recorded in 2020, making it the worst year on record for the sector.

While Fiji cannot expect a tsunami of visitors immediately that our borders do finally reopen, we are certain that there are many Fijian citizens or residents abroad that would like to visit their families and friends here who will be the first ones we expect will be booking flights.

Returning friends and family, visitors that were booked pre-COVID that chose to keep moving those dates, and the expected gradual increase in international visitor attention would provide the required impetus to kickstart our depleted tourism’s earnings, and this would eventually benefit our national economy because of tourism’s naturally large, multiplier effect.

We realise that while it took very little time to shut things down, that it will take a far more exerted and cost prohibited effort to reopen, and that we are encouraging the industry to do so under still unknown conditions that would be critical information in our normal business world.

Yet we are pressing on despite not really knowing exactly which markets might open up to Fiji first or even second.

But ready we must be. Of that, we have no doubt.

So instead, we have to be pretty much ready for anything.

By: Fantasha Lockington – CEO, FHTA (Published in the Fiji Times on 12 August 2021)

FHTA, 29 July 2021 – Under a cloud of COVID uncertainty and more than the usual media negativity about why it should not have gone ahead, the Olympic Games in Tokyo got off to a muted start without the usual in-person crowds.

Fiji has been welcomingly distracted by all its participating athletes and their events, in particular the rugby sevens teams.

For a distraction was rightly needed for many this week.

We acknowledge and thank them all for their commitment to their sporting goals and for reaching the pinnacle of global sport.

Each time they shine brightly in their events, they take the renowned Fijian brand to new heights and remind the world about who we are and where we are.

Globally, we are apparently on par too with our infection rates.

Our national 7-day daily test average is 3530 tests per day or 4.0 tests per 1,000 population. The national 7-day average daily test positivity is 22.8 percent.

The rate of community transmission within the Suva-Nausori containment zone is through the roof, to put it mildly, and it appears we join every other citizen from around the world protesting lockdowns and not heeding calls to stay at home or be more vigilant in protecting ourselves.

Those citizens calling for a national lockdown fail to realise it would never work for us.

So, it is doubtful that asking our citizens who develop COVID symptoms to assume that they have COVID-19, to follow stringently the COVID-safe protocols and to isolate themselves, will have any real impact either.

All the more reason as we have all been encouraged to do, to get vaccinated to be better protected against the virus and our fellow countrymen who will not follow these rules.

While many have been tracking the second dose percentages of total vaccinated adults in Fiji, the Fiji Hotel and Tourism Association (FHTA) is instead, keeping a close watch on the first dose percentages.

This we feel, is more indicative of our vaccination programs and gives everyone a more indicative timeline for a return to some semblance of near normalcy and dare we say it, reopening our borders.

We have a vaccinated target of 80percent of eligible adults being aimed for.

The first dosage data is nearing that figure, with Fiji currently at 77 percent of eligible adults taking the first step to being vaccinated, with a more likely scenario being that we are actually at 80 percent given that data collation can be slower to feed in from the various sources.

It is also presumed that the vaccination figures are matched with the vaccine dose inventory with a certain percentage of wastage also factored in, and if we followed this through with the eight to ten weeks estimate for the administration of the second dose, we would arrive at a time frame that we might expect our 80 percent target.

Don’t forget to add 2 weeks post jab number 2 for full immunity to kick in.

That will be the time to ask “Are we there yet?” because the tourism industry is expected to be already working its way through its reopening plans by this stage.

FHTA is far from being medical professionals, but we are voracious in our appetite to understand more of this virus and are unrelentingly driven by the need to overcome its impact because we recognize that we cannot have a tourism industry while the virus remains a threat for Fiji.

It really is that simple.

We are constantly pushing the vaccination message to our members and their staff and in all of our communications channels because we know this is the right thing to do.

It is expected to take at least 3 months to get reopening ready. For businesses that have been in hibernation, fully closed or only open intermittently and even then, at only a fraction of their normal size; there are huge challenges to overcome regardless of their size.

These include locating and retraining staff in all the new COVID-safe requirements in the service industry, getting them back in fresh uniforms and back in service-ready form.

Resorts must repair and refill swimming pools that have been empty for 18 months or more, landscape and trim overgrown gardens, repair or replace equipment, sea walls and machines, before addressing the huge cost of replacing and replenishing emptied out food and beverage items for restaurants and bars.

There is currently some concern that there will not be sufficient availability of the products and even services that will be required to support the industry get reopening ready.

Whether supplies of replacement equipment, repair expertise and stock will be accessible once identified.

Resorts around Fiji must bring back their chefs, maintenance, service, cleaning and support staff while dealing with the effect of humidity and tropical weather on closed rooms and furnishings.

Marine based activity providers, airlines and cruise vessels must get their operations out from under covers and storage and prepare equipment and get staff safety compliant, re-licensed and training approved.

Everyone must have their revamped marketing plans prepped and ready to go.

There is also obviously a need to understand timeframes on which markets will be ready and that Fiji will be able to open to and what the expected welcome format will be towards them – as either vaccinated or non-vaccinated visitors.

The industry will need confirmation on the airline schedules and expected uptake so that it can adequately match the inventory with demand and ensure that inventory is refreshed, sufficient in quantity, and ready to compete with the best quality, products, services and holiday packages.

With this in front of the industry, it continues to work on the areas it can make a difference with now; and this includes supporting efforts to get communities it works in to be made safer.

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

We see the bigger picture and are remaining steadfastly focused on what must happen first before we can get back to doing what we do best.

But first, we must survive and we must help our communities survive.

We will not have a tourism industry without our people.

We will not have our people with COVID still here.

We might be able to live with COVID eventually, but not before we make that possible on our terms only. And science tells us that this means vaccinating so that we are immune to its deadly consequences.

Why we cannot get the rest of Fiji to understand this is beyond our understanding.

For Fiji, ever Fiji as our lovely national anthem reminds us.

By: Fantasha Lockington – CEO, FHTA (Published in the Fiji Times on 29 July 2021)