Fiji’s tourism and economy on the rise

According to recent data from the Ministry of Commerce, Trade, Tourism and Transport, Fiji’s economy is currently $337.5 million richer.

The Fiji Hotel and Tourism Association chief executive Fantasha Lockington commented about the latest tourism trends in the region:

“We are certainly trying hard to return to pre-COVID levels ahead of the projected time-frame that economic experts had originally estimated. Tourism has well and truly rebounded, and with gusto, and that speaks volumes of the industry’s concentrated focus to get back to where they were (or better!) and their collective efforts to prove that we were very well prepared for the bounce-back of travel through maintaining a close watch on global trends and visitor travel expectations,” Lockington declared.

Nevertheless, the chief executive warns officials to remain cautions, as the global tourism industry continues to be fragile and can still be impacted by several factors, as well as advise travellers to follow safe travel guidelines and stay alert regarding the Covid-19 virus.

However, Lockington added that Fiji’s tourism future looks good, according to booking figures.

“[…] Fiji is currently enjoying a ‘preferred destination’ status right now and the high season that started earlier than normal, appears to be extending further into the end of the year.

“This is surprising even our most seasoned operators and our most optimistic expectations, so it looks like any scheduled annual leave for people like us might be on hold for a while. But that’s a good problem to have because it means that employment will also be high for some time to come”, she said.

Moreover, Fiji experiences high demand for its hospitality workers, as businesses in the Pacific try to keep up with customer requests across all sectors.

“[…] supporting people’s choice to move on to greener pastures, we believe there should be a stronger call for those larger economies benefiting from the upskilling of the people at the cost of Fijian employers, to support local training costs and efforts to constantly finance skills training. We do expect that this demand for Pacific Island workers will reduce to more manageable levels as our neighbours’ own challenges also ease up over the next six months,” Lockington concluded.

 

source: fijitimes.com