Buoyant Tourism Recovery For Fiji Underway

Here at the Fijian Tourism Expo (FTE), tourism officials were elated over the promising start to the year, with visitor arrivals hitting 174,000 for the first quarter (January to March). That is a big 102% jump from 2022 figures, reports Press Today’s correspondent Beatrice Ang, who is in attendance at the event.

Held at the Sheraton Fiji Golf & Beach Resort in Nadi, FTE attendee numbers also increased, with 106 international tourism buyers in attendance – in 2022, that number was 80. Also, most buyers had local or regional origins last year, while this year, more have came from further afield, including Canada, the US and China. The number of supplier booths numbers also grew from 70 last year to 89 in ’23.

Tourism Fiji’s CEO Brent Hill said that they would like to attract travellers who are heading to Australia and New Zealand, and invite them to stop over in Fiji for a short visit, even if they are just transiting through the country. This proposal has been sweetened with the offer of visa-free stays for up to 96 hours, for those foreign nationals who must have a visa to enter Fiji. This is not an issue for Canadians, as passport holders from Canada, the US, the UK, the European Union, Australia, New Zealand and about 100 other countries do not need a visa to enter Fiji.

In other news, Fiji Airways is awaiting the delivery of two A350-900 aircraft. Slated for deployment on the Vancouver route sometime in the fall, the new A350-900 will be able to carry 60 more passengers, offering more capacity on the popular Vancouver flights.

The route is currently serviced by A330 aircraft. Fiji Airways has also announced it may add a third weekly flight to its Vancouver-Nadi schedule in December and January ‘24. The airline started operating flights from Vancouver in Nov. 2022.

Go to www.fiji.travel for more.

In the Photo  

TOP

Seen here, from l to r, are Canadian tourism product buyers Bill Duplak of Voyzant and Sam Youseff of Travel Brands were in attendance at the Fiji Tourism Expo in Fiji recently.

MIDDLE

Akuila Batiweti, executive manager global sales, marketing & digital for Fiji Airways posed with a gladiator while promoting the Fiji Spartan Race 2023, the world’s largest obstacle course race.  

BOTTOM 

Some of the North Americans in attendance at the FTE (l. to r.) were Tourism Fiji’s regional director for North America, Ruth Daly; Macey Cruz, marketing for Classic Vacations; Sam Youssef, VP integrated marketing at TravelBrands; Anna Vo, managing director at Legends and Proud Miranda, trade and partnerships manager in North America for Tourism Fiji.