SUVA, 27 February 2020 – The power of the media cannot be overstated. Its role in the various aspects of life is becoming increasingly greater day by day, especially in social, cultural and educational aspects of our lives.
The media can play an important role in the growth, development and promotion of tourism by creating a better awareness and understanding of tourism businesses and the environments they operate in, as well as highlighting the industry’s challenges and opportunities.
Ideally the media can contribute towards shaping tourism into a responsible industry by promoting the protection of the environment and addressing the negative social impact of tourism.
It also helps interested stakeholders and tourists understand the local cultural, social and environmental issues. This week, the Fiji Hotel and Tourism Association (FHTA) hosted several members of Fiji’s major media organisations to an information session.
Here we shared our outlook on future trends, shared concerns on the future of tourism and discussed issues that affect or have the potential to affect the industry both positively and negatively.
We also discussed tourism and its many segments and how important these were as revenue contributors in the different regions and the many ways tourism reaches from the deep interiors of Fiji to the furthest islands in the North, West, East and South. We touched on Fiji as a known family market, a popular destination for weddings and honeymoons and how lucrative it can be for dive and adventure. We also talked about emerging tourism trends that the world is witnessing now; not all of which were positive.
For the very lucrative dive market, we discussed the long-awaited hyperbaric chamber that is being installed at the CWM Hospital in Suva.
This chamber circulates almost pure oxygen and is mainly used to treat diving-related illnesses.
Divers who surface too quickly are at risk of air bubbles forming and expanding in the body, referred to as decompression sickness or “the bends.”
Without treatment, this condition can become life threatening within hours. Hyperbaric chambers are also used to expose diabetic patients to pure oxygen to speed up the recovery process for those who have undergone limb amputations.
With no chamber available in Fiji since 2017, divers are still being cautioned to dive “conservatively” to avoid mishaps.
The lack of a decompression chamber forces injured divers to be evacuated to Australia or New Zealand for those with insurance.
This comes at a high cost to the diver and is a major factor in dissuading divers and dive groups from selecting Fiji as a potential dive destination with insurance requirements demanding that a chamber be available in the country.
Local divers who may be employed as dive instructors, or through their work in the police, army, navy, water and power utility services do not often have the luxury of a low-level flight option to access a chamber. Even less likely if you are a young diver in the islands who has been convinced to dive for the now illegal harvesting of beche-de-mer (sucuwalu) to make a living.
Other challenges highlighted the spread of COVID-19 that has gripped the world.
While tourism’s coordinated message to the outside world considering travel to the region is that there are currently no confirmed cases of COVID-19 in Fiji as verified by the Ministry of Health, we are also reiterating previous messaging to industry stakeholders to maintain good handwashing practices that includes our strong recommendation not to share kava bowls.
Kava ceremonies and kava tasting is a large part of the Fijian cultural experience for visitors and this could be enhanced to provide a higher level of safety by ensuring that ladles are used to serve the kava and individual bowls are provided for use for each person which are then cleaned thoroughly before reuse.
The symptoms of COVID-19 are very similar to many other respiratory illnesses (including colds and influenza) so it makes sense to implement stringent hygiene practices for cleaning with good quality disinfectants, providing signage to remind people to wash their hands thoroughly and offer hand sanitisers to reduce the spread of germs and infection generally.
The media workshop also provided the opportunity to discuss tourism’s business environments and processes as a large part of how things work behind the 24/7 non-stop industry is not always understood.
This included the backgrounds on weekend and holiday pay rates for staff and the 25% tax additions to most food & beverage services.
The regulatory requirements for businesses ensures compliance and the need to stay competitive with products and services including staff training and development ensures the tourism product is something Fiji can be proud of.
But it comes at a high cost.
The demand for Fiji therefore must remain high as well or the formula stops working.
We thank all the media staff and organisations who were present at our FHTA Media Workshop and we hope to work closely with you soon.
There will be a second workshop scheduled for the media based in the Western division and we hope that media will again avail themselves to hear our updates on issues discussed this week.
By: Fantasha Lockington – CEO, FHTA
Published in the Fiji Times on 27 February 2020
