IT’S not about me but the thousands of Fijians who go to work every day and give visitors to this country the best possible holiday experience.
This was the sentiment shared by re-elected Fiji Hotel and Tourism Association (FHTA) president Dixon Seeto after its members placed him back in the driver’s seat during the organisation’s 54th annual general meeting on Friday.
“It’s also the board and membership that makes FHTA a very strong association,” he said.
“Everyone here is an owner-operator, we’re in the private sector and passionate about what we do.
“We need to be profitable, we need to grow the business and this is what we are about because with one-in-three persons employed in tourism, we have a huge responsibility to our businesses, our employees and their families.
“There are a lot of people relying on us and we are focused on the long-term sustainability of our businesses and the tourism sector as a whole.” Mr Seeto added that having an experienced and vibrant board also made his job easier.
“We have four life members — Patrick Wong, Robert Wade, YP Reddy and Hafiz Khan.
“We have a very active board made up of very clever people and I am very privileged and honoured to have a great team working with me as the president to achieve what we need to do for our members, hotel industry, tourism industry and economy of Fiji.
“We have a great role to play, tourism is a great platform for development because it is an industry that thrives when the development is off the beaten track places, sometimes the more remote, the better.
“It’s the greatest employer, there are a lot of people coming out of schools and universities now that need jobs.
“And it is also a great platform for investment and that is also something we also want to encourage Government to put in policies that will actually get more private sector investment and foreign investment into Fiji.”
