Fiji’s newly-approved Tourism Fund risks failing the very local and indigenous operators it is meant to rescue unless the Government strips away paralysing red tape, the industry’s peak body has warned.
While welcoming the parliamentary initiative, Fiji Hotel and Tourism Association (FHTA) chief executive officer Fantasha Lockington cautioned that excessive paperwork and complex compliance rules could “lock out” small, iTaukei-owned businesses currently buckling under soaring operational costs.
The Tourism Fund is a formal financial mechanism established under the new Tourism Bill 2026 aimed at directly supporting tourism infrastructure, community-based operations and workforce training.
In an interview, Ms Lockington said the Tourism Fund had the potential to be very important, particularly if it was designed to reach smaller, indigenous and locally owned operators who often struggled to access capital.
She said for many of those operators, the issue was not ambition.
“It is the cost of compliance, upgrades, insurance, utilities, marketing, digital systems, training and basic infrastructure,” Ms Lockington told this newspaper.
“If the fund can help with concessional finance, small grants, technical support, standards upgrade, product development and market access, it could make a real difference.
“But the design matters. It must be simple to access, fairly administered and not so paperwork-heavy that the very operators it is meant to help are locked out.
“We would also want to see the fund support practical outcomes: better rooms, safer operations, improved waste and water systems, renewable energy, staff training, cultural tourism products and stronger participation by iTaukei and local businesses in the visitor economy.”
Ms Lockington said the passing of the Tourism Bill was significant because Fiji had needed a modern tourism law for a long time.
She said the industry had changed enormously, and the old framework no longer reflected the scale, diversity and complexity of the sector.
“The positive elements include the move toward national tourism standards, clearer registration requirements, stronger recognition of sustainable tourism and a framework that can better support local participation and investment.
“For the private sector, the main concern now is implementation.
“The law is one part of the process. The regulations, policies, fees, compliance timelines and enforcement approach will determine how it works in practice. We want standards, but they must be practical, fair and consistently enforced.
“They should lift the whole industry, not simply add another layer of cost for compliant operators while non-compliant operators continue unchecked.”
