FHTA, 8 April 2021 – This past Easter weekend was a great indication of how lucrative, in various patches, our Domestic Tourism market can be.
While it might not be at the previous levels of international visitor numbers, it was still a godsend for our members who welcomed these local guests with more staff on duty to ensure a great time was had by all.
Properties were buzzing with the influx of local visitors who sought to spend the anticipated four-day weekend away from their familiar surroundings.
Many hotel staff were on deck to tend to guests’ needs and this was the being experienced in Denarau, the greater Nadi area, the Mamanuca’s, the North and all along from the Coral Coast to the Sun Coast.
Domestic tourism and the added benefits from those in-country through the VIP and Blue Lanes, comforted workers who were happier to be working longer hours and being engaged in a range of activities across Fiji’s tourism’s holiday choices.
The response, therefore, has been wonderful particularly with families taking advantage of the specials that were promoted.
We also noted that many families who would normally have taken the time to join their overseas families used the opportunity to take a local holiday instead. This internal spending will circulate in the economy and bring smiles to suppliers and other tourism stakeholders who have all been ravaged by the year-long stagnation of international tourism.
Domestic tourism, as well as other initiatives like the VIP and Blue Lanes, is contributing to more employment and assisting operators to add to dwindling cash reserves that, in turn, pay bills and banks.
There is no doubt it is making a difference, but these holidays are intermittent and we still need to focus much stronger efforts to register and get vaccinated.
This is how everyone can help get Fiji’s borders to reopen safely.
The COVID virus is not going away, so our only hope is to add that extra layer of security by getting vaccinated against it. In our last Tourism Talanoa article, we stressed the importance of all (or most) of the nation being inoculated against COVID-19.
This week and into the following week, tourism staff are getting registered with the assistance of their employers and in consultation with the Ministry of Health and the RFMF COVID Response Unit, are preparing to get vaccinated.
Around 3,000 more tourism workers will be vaccinated to add to those in the airports, airlines and quarantine facilities that had already been first in line for the vaccines.
Tourism operators are working closely with the medical teams to complete registrations, facilitate venues, support transport requirements and ensure that their workers are provided with that added layer of safety.
This cannot be emphasized enough.
Frontliners in the industry are in direct contact with both international visitors and repatriated Fijians arriving in the country.
New COVID-safe guidelines have been implemented for their safety and this is coupled with strict arrival protocols in full personal protective equipment (PPE), depending on where in the tourism chain they are working.
When the industry opens up to wider groups of international guests, via specifically indicated safe travel zones initially and then eventually through fully opened borders, we do not expect our tourism operators or their suppliers to be using PPE’s because this will not be practical in the long term.
Along with Tourism Fiji, tourism stakeholders have supported the Ministry of Health’s communication efforts and provided updates and information on the vaccines that have included FAQs. We believe we can do more to support the wider roll-out of the vaccines to the general public by sharing our experiences on social media as well as our international communication platforms.
We are working on sharing vernacular translations of the FAQ’s widely and keeping the medical teams updated on our progress to ensure we can further support an efficient roll-out. But we’re not stopping there, because there is far too much still at stake.
As news breaks of a Trans-Tasman Bubble taking shape, Fiji too should be able to confirm the success of its COVID-contained status and vaccination uptake and be included in the bubble eventually.
Australia and New Zealand are not just key markets for Fiji’s international visitors. They are also where many of our families and friends live; many of whom we have been unable to visit or see physically. Those are also the countries we do more commercial business with and business travel has been replaced by Zoom calls for too long.
There is no denying that our economy is heavily dependent on tourism. So much so that tourism contributed 46% to Fiji’s annual GDP in 2019 and numbers 100,000+ in direct and indirect employment.
The Reserve Bank of Fiji estimates that tourism contributed around $1billion in government tax revenue and $2billion in foreign exchange earnings.
So, until our economy can diversify its reliance on a particular industry, we need international visitors back on our shores. As quickly and as safely as we can.
Ensuring we vaccinate the majority of our population will mitigate the risk of infections once borders are reopened.
But we need to do so with a clear, safe pathway to that reopening.
We hope that by working with the agencies tasked with Fiji’s health, security and safety, that we are not only doing as much as we can proactively to get the borders reopened quickly but that we are showing how the private sector can effectively work with the public sector to coordinate and address an urgent commitment to keeping Fiji safe.
By: Fantasha Lockington – CEO, FHTA (Published in the Fiji Times on 8 April 2021)
Fiji Hotel and Tourism Association
The Voice of the Industry
