Fiji is now easing its entry conditions alongside many other countries to remain competitive.
These were the words of Minister for Commerce, Trade, Tourism and Transport Faiyaz Koya during his budget support speech.
“That’s why we’ve made policy changes to; one – ensure we’re attractive to tourists and two – to ensure industry wide ease that supports our goal to be competitive,” he said.
“With the removal of the Travel Partner classification, irrespective of where you come from, you’ll be bound by the same conditions.
“We’re basing this on assurance that we’re a highly vaccinated nation, and anyone who comes is vaccinated with a negative COVID-19 test.”
Mr Koya said from April 7, all a visitor to Fiji needed to do was pre-book a Rapid Antigen Test for their 24-hour in-country test.
He added that this policy shift also created more transparency, where all service providers whether they were in a hotel, lab or pharmacy listed their prices online.
He also said they were giving visitors the option to choose where they wanted to book their test.
“How this system will work is, there will be an online test booking platform that will centralise all the testing services.
“So if I’m booked to stay at Hilton, I can go online and either book my test with a lab/pharmacy in-house the Hilton, or somewhere in Nadi Town if I see that as a cheaper option. And if I intend to visit my family in Lautoka, I no longer have to stay at a hotel. Instead, I go online and look up labs/pharmacies around the area and book.
“To ensure there are no defaulters who don’t turn up for their test, we will have in place fixed penalties.” Mr Koya said over the next few days, the ministry will support the industry through this transition.
