The Fiji National Provident Fund (FNPF) is willing to forgo roughly $100 million in potential earnings from its Westin Denarau Island Resort & Spa property in order to put the brand on a better footing with newer offerings on Denarau.
Completion of the luxury five-star resort, which is currently closed for refurbishment, is now scheduled for next year, said FNPF chief executive officer Viliame Vodonaivalu.
“The Westin Resort is the first resort on Denarau Island and was established around 50 years ago. The planned refurbishment is major, aiming to ensure the resort aligns brand, quality, and reputation standards,” Mr Vodonaivalu said, in response to questions sent by this newspaper.
“More so, this will ensure that it competes with newer offerings in the market such as what is offered by the other hotel properties on Denarau. The planned refurbishment is scheduled to be completed and operational in the last quarter of 2024.”
The unavailability of the 255-room resort at a time when Fiji is in the middle of a tourism boom and room shortage as a result of it was highlighted by Tourism Fiji chief executive officer Brent Hill at a tourism seminar organised by the Reserve Bank of Fiji late last month.
He said based on their calculations, Westin was potentially losing $100m a year from non-availability of rooms alone.
“We were doing the numbers on Westin for example, like Westin, 240 rooms – they say 230 of those, based on occupancy in Denarau are filled at an average price of $1200 a night. Times that (multiply) by 365, you do the math… that’s significant, you know, around the $100 million that they could be making if they were open. That isn’t there,” Mr Hill said.
Mr Hill urged owners of incomplete major hotel projects such as FNPF to take advantage of the current market trend and get their hotels up and running.
FNPF said it is “committed to being a long-term investor and actively seeks out opportunities that are accretive in nature and create long-term value for the fund”.
“Organically, we are constantly working to unlock the full potential of our existing investments by reorganising, rehabilitating, and transforming them.
“This allows them to benefit from economies of scale, improved efficiency and capitalise on the industry’s current and emerging growth prospects.
“Inorganically, the fund also continues to explore external investment opportunities that are progressive in nature with the fund’s earnings goals,” Mr Vodonaivalu said.
Based on current trends, Tourism Fiji is projecting over 900,000 visitors to Fiji by December, Mr Hill said.
