The tourism industry in Fiji contributes about 40 per cent to the country’s gross domestic product (GDP).
Chief executive officer for Fiji Hotel and Tourism Association Fantasha Lockington highlighted this at the Fiji OHS conference at the Pearl Resort in Pacific Harbour last Friday.
“It is quite influential in terms of what it does for the economy,” she said.
“We have done pretty well in terms of coming out of the pandemic.
“Fiji has been very lucky. But it didn’t have just things to do with luck. It has a lot to do with how tenacious the industry can be or demanding and how very competitive the industry is.”
She said they had continued to make sure the importance of the industry was recognised.
“In the 20 months that we had border lockdowns, we did some studies, we did a lot of research and took a look at what was going on around the world.
“We constantly checked for people who were looking at us online. We constantly researched and surveyed what people were thinking and dreaming about.
“And we were quite surprised to find out that people were really in a bad mental state. They wanted to reconnect with the outside, in the outdoors.
“And so, tourism reinvented some of the things that we already have. We had a look at how we could bring our beauty to the fore and show it to the world.
Ms Lockington said they had shown the world that Fiji was where happiness came naturally.
“And this is why our tourism industry is doing pretty well.”
