Page 10 - Islands Business May-June 2022

Tourism Tourism

FIJI’S TOURISM COMEBACK

MUCH CONCERNS REMAIN OVER LABOUR

By Samantha Magick headwinds, everything from climate change impact to the
pandemic doing something crazy again, economic issues like
Travellers now want authentic and immersive vacation supply chain issues that we’ve got now, and fuel prices and
experiences, an analyst from international consulting firm the rest of it. So, at the moment, it’s very fragile, I think
Twenty31, told the recent Fiji Tourism Expo. that’s acknowledged…But I think we have to be optimistic
Oliver Martin said travellers are looking for last minute and about the future.”
flexible travel options, want to stay longer at destinations, His optimism stems from the fact that Fiji’s tourism re-
are increasingly influenced by social media and streaming con- covery comes despite the country being open to just three
tent, and are still concerned about health and safety needs. markets: Australia, New Zealand and the U.S.
These shifts set the tone of many sessions at the expo, Historically the industry has been buffeted not only by
which was imbued with cautious optimism, given the strong natural disasters, but also political coups. With elections due
opening Fiji’s industry has experienced in the first few months before January 2023, Hill says political instability would be
of this year. “catastrophic to tourism…we 100% need to put that behind us
Tourism Fiji CEO, Brent Hill, says they aim to attract one for the very sake of our economy.”
million visitors by 2024, and grow tourism’s contribution to
FJD$3.37 billion by the end of that year. This April, the aver- Don’t go to war on price
age daily room rate and revenue per available room matched Another challenge will be the inevitable discounting that
2019 pre-pandemic figures, and Tourism Fiji Chair and Fiji will occur once other tourism destinations open.
Airways CEO, Andre Viljoen, told delegates that bookings for However Oliver Martin has cautioned against getting into a
the next six months were approaching pre-COVID levels. Visi- price war.
tors to Fiji are staying longer and spending more. “You compete on price on the long term, it has a detrimen-
Twenty31’s Martin notes there are some risks; the war in tal impact on your destination, and then you’ll start turning
Ukraine is impacting Europe outbound travel and is driving up into the Phukets, the Pattayas, Waikiki Beach, the Goas, all
inflation. “The biggest thing that is going to impact our indus- of those discounted destinations of the world. And it becomes
try now is the price of oil and gas,” he said. “It doesn’t mat- a zero-sum game. You’re continually chasing after the lower
ter if you are an airline and you use jet fuel, if you’re a boat end of the market and will never recover your destination
operator, if you are a hotel and you have to have generators, brand.
if you are an agriculture heavy industry and you rely on fertil- “Take a destination like Fiji where you have a broad range
isers, or you are an island like Fiji that has to import in a heck of hotel product and attractions, there is a range of price
of a lot of things, it’s going to impact on the market.” points. The key is eventually, you start moving higher up the
Brent Hill believes that despite risks, the 2024 projections value chain. You start attracting not exactly a luxury traveller,
are achievable. but a traveller that appreciates the value of what you have to
“In the corporate plan, there’s six or seven possible offer in Fiji.”

10 Islands Business, May-June 2022