START small. Don’t boil the ocean. In an almost fairy-tale comeback, the tourism industry appears to have gotten its groove back after our international border opened up again in December 2021, with 2022 proving to be a year of many positives for many reasons.
Perseverance! Resilience! Grit! Take your pick, but the industry’s clawing back to reclaiming its hard-earned position as the destination of choice for visitors by reviewing how it did business based on changing demands from travellers, earning trust and having faith that reopening early was the right thing to do, has paid off.
For 2022 anyway. But it is just a precursor to forecasted plans for 2023 and 2024 as we do our bit to support attempts to right the economic ship in light of still-existing global challenges, and if the indicative reports are anything to go by, we appear to be on the right track.
The Reserve Bank of Fiji’s (RBF) January 2023 Economic Review notes that Fiji’s higher-than-expected visitor arrivals have boosted tourism receipts of $ 1.4 billion based on overseas exchange transaction records.
Of importance is the increase in visitor spending by 12 per cent which is no doubt compounding the impact on the forecasted increase in real GDP growth for the Fijian economy that is being led by accommodation and food services, supported by other strong sectors like transport, storage, finance, insurance, construction and manufacturing.
In Westpac Fiji’s recently released quarterly economic update, they have forecasted an increase with real GDP growth of 7.2 per cent this year and 5.0 per cent for next year. On the back of this strong recovery, there has been work going on in the background to diversify the tourism markets that we attract to our shores, which is now coming to the forefront of discussions and planning.
With the advent of increasing niche tourism offerings around the world over the years, there has been wider recognition of the need to create more investment in key areas around the country that would support potential opportunities in showcasing and celebrating Fiji’s diverse history and even open up less travelled areas that offer either natural alternatives for deep relaxation or the more athletically inclined; extreme adventure options.
As Fiji’s health system infrastructure has not been at its best over the past decade, increasing numbers of people who can afford it can access insurance or who can raise money to support their travel to India, Australia and New Zealand for treatment.
Medical tourism might be a step in the right direction for Fiji, especially if cross-fertilisation of medical experience provided opportunities for enhancing local exposure and access.
Similarly, agri-tourism could further enrich tourism offerings while supporting the small network of farms providing niche products to the tourism industry. New Zealand provides wonderful examples of how this works to create interest in local and international visitors to better understand where their food products come from that in turn stimulates smaller cottage industries in the rural areas. Bee farms produce honey and other honey by-products like candles, sweets, sauces, dressings and skin-care products. Coffee growers, fruit and vegetable farmers, as well as sheep farmers, have been able to expand their farms into cafes, tours and small cottage industries that have been popular with visitors.
We can start small with agri-tourism, and spread the investments further out into the rest of the country.
This in turn expands the industry’s diversity, shares opportunities across regions and communities and more importantly, will quite easily engage with more women in in its replication and success.
This is just a small sample of available opportunities of what could be available for the diversification of Fiji’s tourism offerings.
As Fiji looks for innovative ways to support more industries to grow and match tourism for better economic security,
FHTA continues listening to industry stakeholders letting us know where the gaps are when their visitors are looking for new things to do and recognising the opportunities that these
present.
Investment in anything we do as a PIC must be checked to determine the widest possible economic impact for
the country.
The success of tourism as an industry has been more than the default access to location, weather and the friendliest
people.
It has also been a keen awareness of changing demands, travel trends and global patterns and a deeper understanding of how these impact us and the symbiotic relationships of the communities and environments around us.
- FANTASHA LOCKINGTON is the CEO for Fiji Hotel & Tourism Association based in Suva. The views expressed in this article are the author’s and not of this newspaper.
