MINISTER for Industry, Trade, and Tourism Faiyaz Koya has warned shop owners to stop manipulating and taking advantage of tourists.
He made the comments after hearing of a case where tourists in Nadi were taken advantage of by unscrupulous vendors but were saved after assistance rendered by a local.
“If any tourist is approached in that manner then you should say no and report the matter to the police because there are a lot of tourism police around Nadi,” he said.
“For people who are doing this, you are doing Fiji a disservice, it is not the way Fijians are and you need to stop.”
He said such cases would be immediately taken care of by the Fiji Police Force.
Sofia Ligaiviu, 32 who saved the tourists, recounted her story to this newspaper.
She said a tourist was allegedly threatened to pay $380 for an artifact he did not want to purchase at a souvenir shop in Nadi at 11:15 am last week Saturday.
Ms Ligaiviu, who manages Oasis Spa at Port Denarau, said she was standing in line at an ATM machine in Nadi town when she overheard a
tourist named Max speaking
on the phone with his father and asking him for help.
She said the tourist told her a young man had approached him and his friends and invited them into a souvenir shop where they were offered free kava and given free necklaces.
“One of the shop owners then asked the tourists what their family name was and after answering them, they started carving the names on to the artifacts and told them to pay for it.”
Ms Ligaiviu said despite the tourist saying they did not want the artifact the shop owners forcefully took his belongings and told him to look for the money.
“One of his friends, who was coerced to pay for a $180 artifact, gave the shop owners $F80 and $US80 ($F166.68).
Ms Ligaiviu then accompanied the tourists to confront the shop owners and demanded for the tourists’ belongings back.
“I told them that those of us who work in the tourism industry market Fiji as a place to go for holidays, but what they did completely contradicted what Fiji stood for.”
“They tried to justify what they did to Max and his friends, but I told them, if they thought the way they tried to fork money out of the tourists’ pockets was legal then they should accompany us to the police station to sort out the issue.”
