But no need for tourists to stay away

SUVA – A committee has been activated in Fiji to get tourists back to the country as it looks to recover post cyclone Winston.

The Tourism Action Group (TAG) has been established by the industry and comprises hoteliers, tour operators, Tourism Fiji and Fiji Airways.

It’s chaired by the managing director of Tour Managers Fiji, Damend Gounder, who headed similar action groups set up after the coups in 2000 and 2006.

After spearheading the recovery programmes for the industry following the coups, Damend Gounder said they know it’s important to go out to the marketplace and reassure potential travellers.

“The majority of the tourism belt is in the Mamanuca, the Coral Coast areas and these areas were spared by the cyclone. We are very confident as a group that this is just a temporary thing and we will be seeing numbers back into Fiji in just a few weeks’ time.”

Gounder said short haul customers from New Zealand and Australia are important to them right now.

The president of the Fiji Hotel and Tourism Association, Dixon Seeto, said the best thing people from overseas can do to help Fiji is to “keep coming”.

Seeto said potential markets have been flooded with images via the media of the destruction caused by Cyclone Winston which killed 43 people and flattened homes and infrastructure nearly two weeks ago.

The north-western side of Fiji suffered the brunt of the storm but he says they need to let people overseas know that not all of Fiji looks like that.

Seeto said industry stakeholders are optimistic bookings will pick up again.

“About 20 per cent of visitors are actually returnees so many of them have forged relationships in all the resorts and hotels that they stay in, with the workers and the villagers so many of them would come back.

“And we also need to sort of reassure the people that you know Fiji is open for business, it’s a safe place.”

About one-in-three people in Fiji work in the tourism industry and accounts for 30 per cent of the country’s GDP.

- RNZI