Fiji’s growing reliance on overseas workers reflects a serious disconnect between the country’s education system and the skills demanded by employers, says the Fiji Hotel and Tourism Association (FHTA).
FHTA chief executive officer Fantasha Lockington said the tourism industry continued to struggle to recruit suitably qualified local workers despite having employment opportunities available.
She said the association supported concerns raised by the Fiji Commerce and Employers Federation (FCEF) over the country’s worsening labour and skills shortage.
“Tourism businesses want to employ and develop more Fijians. But having vacancies available does not mean there are candidates with the skills, qualifications and practical experience to fill them,” Ms Lockington said.
“Businesses have operations to maintain and visitors to serve, and when local recruitment cannot meet those needs, they have little choice but to look elsewhere.”
She said the growing dependence on foreign workers should not be treated solely as an immigration issue but as evidence of deeper problems within Fiji’s education and workforce development systems.
The tourism industry offers employment across accommodation, food and beverage, culinary services, marine operations, engineering, maintenance, aviation, finance, administration and management.
However, Ms Lockington said businesses continued to face recruitment difficulties across these sectors.
She pointed to figures reported by the Tertiary Scholarships and Loans Service (TSLS), indicating that more than 33,000 scholarship recipients had either failed to complete their studies or had their awards terminated.
According to the figures cited by FHTA, only 53 per cent of graduates over the past three years had secured employment.
Ms Lockington said these outcomes raised questions about whether Fiji’s investment in education was producing graduates equipped to meet the country’s workforce requirements.
“Supporting more Fijians into meaningful employment means ensuring that scholarship programmes, course offerings and graduate training pathways reflect the real workforce demands of a developing economy like Fiji,” she said.
“We need stronger links between industry, education providers and Government so that public investment in education produces graduates with the skills businesses are actively seeking.”
She called for greater employer involvement in determining training priorities and improved access to funds contributed towards workforce development.
Ms Lockington said simply restricting the recruitment of overseas workers would not resolve the underlying skills shortage.
“Government cannot expect businesses to employ more locals while failing to address the training and skills gaps that prevent them from doing so,” she said.
“Immigration restrictions alone will not fix this. We need practical job pathways, relevant training and coordinated national leadership that connects Fijians to the opportunities already available.”
FHTA said Fiji needed to move beyond measuring education investment through enrolment numbers, scholarship allocations and funding commitments.
Instead, greater emphasis should be placed on course completion rates, graduate employability, relevant skills development and whether the workforce needs of businesses were being met.
The association maintained that addressing these gaps was essential to ensuring more Fijians could access meaningful employment while supporting the continued growth of the tourism industry.
