Rosie Holidays yesterday opened its $2 million state-of-the-art fleet engineering depot facility with full Swedish Scania coach certification.

The new engineering depot is part of a $5 million re-investment package into its transportation fleet in the past 12 months.

The depot also has a fleet control centre that will monitor all vehicle movement, maintenance and fleet cleaning services as well.

It will also house Rosie’s entire fleet of close of 100 vehicles, including the Thrifty Car Rentals.

Rosie Holidays managing director, Tony Whitton, described the new facility as being the “never centre of the Rosie Holidays transportation network”.

He said it will be housing the Fleet Control Centre that will monitor the movement of over 100 vehicles at any one time that are out on the road.

“When operational, our new engineering complex will ensure our fleet of 100 vehicles, including our luxury tourism transport fleet and Thrifty Car Rentals, will be world class,” he said.

“We are investing in new vehicles that will enjoy the best in class maintenance care, cleanliness.

“It’s all directed at our customers comfort from over 48 different countries who buy our products and delight in the services that Rosie Holidays provides.”

Mr Whitton highlighted the company provides jobs to over 600 people and this new complex will create 12 new jobs and more foreign exchange earnings for our nation.

Importance of transportation

The facility was opened by the Minister for Industry, Trade and Tourism, Faiyaz Siddiq Koya.

Mr Koya stressed transportation is an integral part of tourism in moving tourists safely and comfortably between destinations.

“It is, therefore, important the transportation service providers ensure their service delivery is of high standards and with very high level of ethics are maintained,” he said.

“As a Fijian Owned business, Rosie Holidays is Fiji’s largest consolidated travel company, with a highly diversified portfolio of tourism investments.

“I wish to thank you, Tony, for your confidence in Fiji and the tourism industry. Rosie Holidays has always promoted Fiji in our most important markets overseas.”

Mr Koya recognised Rosie Holidays as one examples of a local family business that has moved from humble origins to now one of the most recognised and trusted names in Fiji’s inbound travel and tourism industry.

He therefore requested the Whitton family to mentor other micro and small operators in the tourism sector.

“The promotion of micro, small and medium enterprises is at the heart of the Fijian Government’s socio-economic policy,” he said.

Starting from small

Mr Whitton reminisced the words of his mother, Rose Whitton: “My mum used to say to me to always be hardworking and trustworthy in small things and great things will follow. The journey to great things start from little things.”

Following this advice, success has surely come their way.

Mr Whitton highlighted Rosie has enjoyed a 16 per cent increase in the number of passengers it serviced this year.

This is from its traditional markets of Australia, New Zealand, USA, Europe, but also new markets of China, Russia & India.

“The company operates a diverse portfolio of tourism investments, including transportation, inbound tourism, retail travel, overseas wholesaling and hotel resort ownership and development,” he said.

This $5 million investment package comes close on the heel of the launch by Rosie Holidays of a new non-stop Beijing-Nadi and Shanghai-Nadi charters, during the Chinese New Year in February.

Some benefits

The Complex will also be an extension of the well-known TPAF-endorsed Rosie Travel Academy that was established in 1994.

This was to provide young school leavers with foundational training in Inbound Tourism covering airport welcome, ground transportation, tour bookings, hotel reservations and guiding.

Mr Whitton said there is a special class room in the main complex will provide drivers with comprehensive one-on-one training, covering Fijian history, grooming, guiding, safe driving, and customer service.