Fiji Airways’ direct flights to Singapore has since consequently seen a 63 per cent increase in visitors from the rest of Asia and 11.7 per cent increase from India.

Minister for Industry, Trade and Tourism, Faiyaz Siddiq Koya, in revealing this stressed these are tourism markets that are relatively unexplored and provide big potential.

Mr Koya was speaking during the Tourism Industry Day yesterday at the InterContinental Fiji Golf Resort & Spa in Natadola.

Mr Koya said there is a need to maintain our momentum in terms of marketing Fiji in markets such as Asia including India.

“Hence, a coordinated effort between the Fijian Government, Tourism Fiji, Fiji Airways and the industry players is vital to elevate Fiji in these markets.

“We need to fully understand the customers’ needs to tailor-make marketing packages.”

The Industry Day is a very important platform for Tourism Fiji to discuss its future marketing strategies.

And as such, Mr Koya invited inputs and constructive criticism from stakeholders to help strengthen the marketing plans and ensure the necessary growth for our tourism industry.

Trends

Mr Koya highlighted the tourism industry started the year strong, with a 15 per cent increase in visitor arrivals.

This healthy trend has not been dampened by Cyclone Winston, he said.

“The January to August figures indicate a five per cent increase in visitor numbers, or approximately 511,760 recorded visitors,” he said.

“We were preparing ourselves for a possible reduction in earnings, but the industry yet again proved why it is the backbone of the Fijian economy.

“Visitor Earnings for the first quarter was $340.9 million. This is a 9.7 per cent increase compared to the same period last year.

“The continued upward trajectory in the industry, is an indication that the Fijian Government has couched the right environment for the industry to flourish.

“And the industry players have been able to capitalise on the opportunities that are available.”

Not forgetting traditional markets

But Mr Koya stressed as we focus on the new and emerging market, we should not reduce efforts in our traditional markets of Australia and New Zealand.

“We are yet to fully explore the potentials in these two markets, especially Australia,” he said.

“We need to see how we can tap a larger percentage of the outbound markets of the two countries.

“That will give us a more concrete assessment of how we are faring in those two markets.”

Mr Koya said this is where Industry Day plays a very important in aligning the marketing strategies of Tourism Fiji with that of the industry stakeholders.

“We all need to be working towards the same goal, that is, increasing tourism yield in a sustainable manner – to achieve the overall target of $2.2 billion industry by 2020,” he said.

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