ROSIE Travel Group experienced a 25 per cent decline in bookings after Severe Tropical Cyclone Winston.

Group managing director Tony Whitton said the first month after the Category 5 cyclone proved to be a difficult time for the tourist operator.

“Before Winston, our forward bookings were at a 15 to 18 per cent increase,” he said.

“In January we had record bookings. Then, of course, we had Winston in February when our booking moved from a 15 per cent growth to about a 25 per cent decline and that was for the first month after Winston.

“Now we are looking at about a 10 per cent decline at this particular point.”

He said hopes were high that bookings would pick up later this month.

“Once we start getting the cold Australian and New Zealand winters, hopefully that will start bringing our numbers back to normal,” Mr Whitton said.

“Through that we could start experiencing growth by at least eight to 10 per cent later in the year.

“Winston has had a big short-term impact on our business, but we are hoping to turn that around.”

He added clients understood Fiji’s climate and properties were prepared to cater for guests in the case of an impending disaster.

“One of the good things is that people understand that we live in a very beautiful part of the world but with that beauty comes the weather which we have no control over and cyclones are part of where we live,” Mr Whitton said.

“We have been telling our buyers that with cyclones we have advance warning systems. That’s very different to having an earthquake or a tsunami.”