Tourism Welcomes Liquor License Amendments

FHTA 11 Feb 2022 – The Fiji Hotel and Tourism Association (FHTA) welcomes the amendment to the Liquor Act 2006 by Parliament this week.

The amendment sees the extension of the period of validity to five years, up from three years, and follows another welcome amendment to the Hotel Licensing Board Act which extended a hotel’s license validity period to five years from one year.

Both major amendments to existing Acts provide pragmatic support to tourism stakeholders who have reopened and were issues that were taken by the Association to the Government for addressing.

Many smaller hotels that were closed during the pandemic had no prior recourse to get a liquor license on reopening if they had not renewed their liquor license whilst closed.

The changes to the Liquor and Hotel Licensing Board Acts simplify and support compliance and further improve ongoing efforts to improve the Ease of Doing Business in Fiji.

“It may not be widely appreciated that our smaller tourism stakeholders, of which there are far more than our larger members, struggle to comply with the many, often outdated regulatory business compliance requirements that exist. As they reopen, anything that positively impacts critical cashflows, productivity and efficiency allow them to fully focus on their core business”, Ms Fantasha Lockington, FHTA CEO.

“We continue to identify and support changes that will further improve the Ease of Doing Business, and strongly believe that these, in turn, promote a more compliant business environment where integrity, safety and ethical behaviour can be consistently practised.”