While local guests have been the primary market for a hotel in Nadi, the various restrictions in recent months have made it very difficult to fill its hotel rooms, especially once the border with Suva closed.
Aquarius On The Beach is located at Wailoaloa Beach in Nadi with 17 rooms and has remained open since March 2020.
Its managing director Dale Hermanson expressed their excitement at the recent announcement by Tourism Fiji on its plans to reopen borders to tourists on December 1.
The hotel also hopes to bring back all of its staff members to work once the borders reopen. He said as one of the few smaller hotels who have remained open throughout the COVID crisis, this reopening would hopefully mean a gradual return of jobs, income and normality.
According to a statement from the hotel, smaller hotels such as Aquarius On The Beach are an important attraction for budget-minded guests who want a more boutique hotel experience.
Mr Hermanson said as a locally owned business, the hotel reinvests nearly all of its income locally, playing an important part in Fiji’s diverse tourism industry.
“Local guests have been our primary market for the past year and a half. And they will continue to be important to our hotel moving forward,” he said.
Hotel’s food and beverage manager Vilimoni Namuatiqe said they were aware that staff would have to sharpen their skills once again to handle a larger number of guests.
“That’s why we are in this business. We enjoy bringing smiles to our overseas guests and teaching them a bit of our way of life here,” he said.
“We’ll be ready. We have a couple of months to work with our team and get them set. But we’re excited. We’re all really excited.”
Meanwhile Mr Hermanson said Aquarius On The Beach had won awards such as the winner of a 2021 TripAdvisor Traveler’s Choice award and the winner of the 2018 Fiji Excellence in Tourism Award in the Budget category.
He said these awards underlined the hotel’s popularity among visitors, adding that as a locally owned business, the hotel reinvested nearly all of its income locally, playing an important part in Fiji’s diverse tourism industry.
