Tourism Fiji’s new public relations manager Patricia Mallam will be establishing a public relations unit that will include public relations coordinator and website content manager.

Ms Mallam, who joins Tourism Fiji from the World Wildlife Fund (WWF), will be responsible for both domestic and international public relations activities.

This includes ensuring news and information from the Fijian tourism industry is collated and effectively distributed to trade and media partners in Fiji and around the world.

The unit will also work collaboratively with Tourism Fiji’s public relations agencies in Australia, New Zealand, China and the United States to ensure Fiji’s message is heard by travellers in these and other key source markets.

In addition to targeting international travel media to visit and write about Fiji, the public relations unit will also encourage international movie and television productions to film in Fiji, showing off the country’s stunning scenery in the process.

Ms Mallam will commence with Tourism Fiji on December 1.

Acting chief executive of Tourism Fiji, Ken Freer, said: “The public relations function is vitally important to the work our organisation does.

“Tourism Fiji’s budget is small by global standards. In many of our key source markets, a dollar spent on a well-planned and executed public relations strategy can generate coverage and awareness for Fiji as a holiday destination that advertising alone cannot achieve.”

Decision to join

Ms Mallam said: “The invitation to join the dynamic team at Tourism Fiji couldn’t have come at a better time in my career.

“I anticipate there will be so much more to learn about my country before sharing it with the global community.”

Ms Mallam is a Communications and PR professional with over 11 years experience across diverse industries.