A year in the industry that never sleeps often feels like dog years.
Everything moves faster than you expect; the highs are exhilarating, and the challenges arrive without warning, either tripping you up or smacking you in the face.
Just when you think you are finally over the last hill, something else expands the workload.
As we close the chapter on 2025, there is time to reflect on a year that pushed us, stretched us, rewarded us and reminded us why this industry remains one of Fiji’s most extraordinary national strengths.
We celebrated record numbers and navigated stubborn issues in equal measure, all while preparing steadily for the opportunities that 2026 now places before us.
It has been a year of testing and dogged persistence, exactly the combination that makes tourism as compelling as it is demanding, with the familiar mix of exhausting highs and lows.
Nothing captures the story of 2025 better than our September quarter.
What many expected to be a flat year that might at best match 2024 instead delivered the highest earning quarter ever recorded, with earnings growing by 25 per cent while arrivals grew by only 2 per cent.
Visitors arrived in difficult-to-explain spikes during months that should have been quiet.
Flights were full depending on the sector and season, and operators across the board felt a confidence that had been building for months.
The MICE segment kept numbers growing during the shoulder and low seasons.
Fiji Airways again played a pivotal role, though it remains underappreciated by many who assume national ownership gives us the right to dictate complex business operations we have no real experience in.
Opening new routes and strengthening global connectivity continue to shape Fiji’s long-term prospects.
The global accolades reinforce the airline’s courage and resilience in an intensely competitive market.
It remains the iconic little island airline that delivers big airline dreams, and the industry, along with the national economy, has reaped the rewards.
But behind our hard-won battles to convince global travellers to choose Fiji, sit realities we cannot continue to brush aside.
Demand still outpaces room supply during high seasons, and we must find ways to spread tourism more evenly across the low periods.
At the same time, we are losing ground in our core markets of Australia and New Zealand to cheaper destinations.
Accessing skilled workers remains difficult, even as Parliament continues to echo the usual promises that rarely translate into solutions.
This year also brought home some uncomfortable truths.
Tourism now stretches across vast supply networks and is still misunderstood by policy writers who do not appreciate the 24-hour, seven-day-a-week nature of our operations.
This constant cycle requires reliable staffing, dependable infrastructure and regulatory flexibility.
Yet tourism is still treated as a single industry rather than the cross-sector ecosystem it has always been, quietly absorbing domestic and global shocks that require specific, evolving responses.
Unlike the public sector, tourism cannot operate on the idea that one size fits all.
Every traveller needs a product or service that matches their expectations.
A marketing model that works in one season, region or market must be refined constantly. Ignore this, and we fade quickly, with the national impact stretching far beyond hotel walls.
The industry must move at global speed to compete with confidence, yet domestically we continue to be slowed by policy drags, stalled reforms, investment bottlenecks and the slow grind of regulatory approvals.
I admit to ongoing frustration at the lack of traction and how much this holds us back economically.
But advocacy is never a one-off.
It is relentless and strategic and often painfully slow.
This will continue to be an undercurrent in 2026 because progress belongs to those who refuse to quit.
Our policy work this year reflected that.
Reviewing the Employment Relations Amendment Bill and the Work Care Bill took long hours, many meetings and some very difficult conversations.
Sitting on the Employment Relations Advisory Board ensured that tourism’s views, along with those of our supplier networks, were not drowned out in the tussle of competing priorities.
Immigration challenges continued to demand attention, especially as operators rely heavily on skilled foreign workers while well-meaning labour schemes kept drawing away experienced local staff at a rate many businesses struggled to manage.
And the recent release of the Commercial Use of Marine Areas Bill introduced a significant shift in the ownership and management of nearshore marine areas.
While the intention may be well-meaning, we need a far clearer understanding of how it will affect tourism leases, accessibility to marine sites and practical enforcement.
Outdated legislation now sits firmly on our growing list of areas needing reform.
Modernising regulation is tied directly to investor confidence, sustainable growth and improved ease of doing business.
The Liquor Act is a clear example of rules that no longer reflect operational realities, yet it continues to move through a long and unnecessarily complex process before compliance is recognised.
The FNU levy was meant to support training but has ended up draining resources without delivering visible returns.
VMS continues its slow march towards Phase Three with no list of approved software, leaving operators unclear on how to comply.
The VAT Act is now on its twelfth or thirteenth amendment, yet remains misaligned with industry billing practices, forcing impractical monthly reconciliations.
The sudden reinterpretation of NFA fees saw businesses paying increases of up to 500 per cent without explanation.
Add to that the never-ending requirement to upload thick batches of documents into digital portals, and you begin to wonder what digitisation is meant to achieve.
These are the unglamorous parts of tourism, the knots that need unravelling in systems that rarely reflect the realities of modern business.
Communication between policymakers, regulators and operators remains far too poor.
On the other side of this picture were the growing concerns around sustainability and infrastructure.
New hotels went up, and others waited on approvals, clear signs of investor confidence.
But the strain on wastewater systems, access to clean water and affordable housing remains a serious issue.
Thousands of new rooms also mean thousands of new workers.
Where will they live, and how will they travel to work, school and the supermarket?
Infrastructure investment must run in parallel with development if we want growth that strengthens rather than weakens the wider system.
We cannot keep adding rooms without thinking about capturing and recycling water or ensuring roads and utilities can handle higher demand.
Marine tourism operators shared concerns about compliance and the state of our oceans.
Our reefs and coastal environments remain the foundation of thousands of livelihoods across tourism, fisheries and coastal communities.
Yet littering continues to be a national bad habit. It is discouraging to see how polluted some of our rivers and estuaries have become.
This is why we continue to support the National Sustainable Tourism Framework.
Hosting the GSTC global conference was a milestone that signalled to the world that Fiji takes sustainability seriously, even though we have plenty of work ahead.
Our culture remains the soul of the industry.
It is not something we sprinkle in for atmosphere.
Preserving and strengthening it is an essential part of the sustainability journey, because a more diversified and inclusive industry keeps our cultural roots strong.
This year also offered moments that reminded me of the sector’s social heart.
International Women’s Day was a chance to celebrate the remarkable women who lead and inspire across the industry, whether in boardrooms or beachfront operations.
Our Tourism Leaders Breakfast with the Deputy Prime Minister provided a rare opportunity for open dialogue on priority issues.
These conversations help build trust and widen understanding.
We have strengthened relationships across a wide range of stakeholders, including Fiji Met, FRCS, the ministries for Tourism, Trade, Health, Agriculture, Finance, Environment, Employment, Local Government and Infrastructure, the Maritime Safety Authority, Fiji Police and the Solicitor General.
The hyperbaric chamber outreach unexpectedly linked health and tourism safety for marine operators.
And when a strong flu wave swept through earlier this year, we found ourselves reminding operators to safeguard both staff and guests.
It may feel unusual, but it is all part of keeping the tourism ecosystem safe and functioning.
FHTA also celebrated its 60th anniversary this year.
Sixty years of industry collaboration is no small achievement.
We have worked hard to stay visible, engaged, and constructively challenging where needed.
Sometimes we made headway, and sometimes we took a bloody nose, but we always got back up.
We dug deeply into legislation, questioned processes, and kept pushing for solutions that align with the country’s development ambitions.
The achievements of 2025 came from an industry that refuses to settle even when obstacles loom large and progress feels painfully slow.
That resilience is what will continue to shape our future.
Tourism is not only about the hotels.
More than 70 per cent of tourism businesses are local and mostly SMEs.
They need accessible training, scalable funding and a better understanding of sustainability to protect the future resources we all depend on.
The next stage is building an ecosystem that is inclusive, resilient and ready for the future, where SMEs can innovate, where skills development is ongoing, where sustainability is woven into every operation and where infrastructure and policy align to support growth without eroding the natural and cultural assets that make Fiji what it is.
It is about shifting from expansion to transformation so that the benefits reach wider communities and strengthen the entire economy.
As we look toward 2026, I feel that familiar mix of excitement and determination.
HOTEC returns next year and is already taking shape to be a bigger and more innovative showcase of what the industry can embrace.
Sponsorship discussions have begun, and interest is strong.
Tourism Fiji’s FTE and SPTO’s SPTE will once again position Fiji and the Pacific for global attention, and this time we go in with the confidence of strong results, expanding connectivity and more rooms finally coming online.
The growth outlook for next year is optimistic, and rightly so.
But the goal is sustainable and inclusive growth, not growth that strains our infrastructure or exhausts our workforce.
Our advocacy will continue to push for the reforms needed to unlock more local and foreign investment.
Before we pick up these conversations again next year, I wish all our readers a safe and joyful Christmas with your loved ones, and a prosperous new year.
n FANTASHA LOCKINGTON is the chief executive officer of the Fiji Hotel and Tourism Association. The views expressed are not necessarily those of The Fiji Times. To share a comment or thoughts on the article, please send an email to info@fhta.com.fj
FCEF representatives with members of the Standing Committee on Economic Affairs after their submission on the Employment Relations Amendment Bill. Picture: SUPPLIED
