The Smugglers Cove Beach Resort began its operation at the famous picnic spot in Wailoaloa, Nadi in 2006 and later expanded into their new beach wing in 2011.

Director, Mark Hinton, said the team was delighted that all their hard work over the past few years has paid off.

This was through the resort’s nomination again in the 2015 ANZ Fiji Excellence in Tourism Awards.

They have been nominated in the Accommodation Budget category.

Smugglers Cove Beach Resort was finalists in the same award category in the past years. They had won in 2011.

These awards are the biggest in our tourism industry.

The awards will be held on February 19 at the Denarau Convention Centre.

The Smugglers Cove Beach Resort is owned by couple, Mark & Janice Hinton.

Mr Hinton said: “Our nomination is based on quality and delivery of service.

“It is through continuously improving strategies, benchmarking and striving to be the market leader with a strong customer service focus.

The Awards

Mr Hinton feels winning this award reflects an image of confidence to their distribution partners and intended guests, and they continually strive to exceed such expectations.

“There is a lot of competition in the marketplace throughout Fiji and being nominated in the top three is a great honour,” he said.

“Winning this award shows our guests that we really do care about what we do to ensure their Fiji experience is a memorable one.”

Tourism industry

Mr Hinton believes tourism in Fiji is thriving at the moment, due majorly to the introduction of more flights by Fiji Airways.

“Direct flights from Singapore and San Francisco are going to be an exciting time in the tourism industry, especially for youth travellers via South East Asia connections direct to Fiji,” he said.

“Youth travellers are very budget conscious, adventurous. The youths stay longer therefore they have a higher overall spend.

“There is a higher possibility of spend retention in the country.

“Given that this market sector has the highest number of indigenous operators we feel Government needs to support this sector more to ensure everyone gets a fair share of this market.”

EDITED BY: rachna lal

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