The Tourism Industry is working to ensure readi­ness for a December bor­der opening.

While December is the target to reopening Fiji’s borders to tourists, Tourism Minister Faiyaz Koya says preparatory work and marketing Fiji’s tour­ism indsutry has not ceased.

He said Fiji’s ultimate goal with every other destination was to safely restore quarantine free travel.

“So, in order to get there, we need to, first and foremost, re­store the trust as a tourism des­tination,” Mr Koya said.

“Tourism Fiji will play a criti­cal role in building this particu­lar trust.

“We have had to adjust, we have had to adapt and act almost on a daily basis because the global situation keeps evolving.”

Mr Koya added that all differ­ent stakeholders, the private sector, the Ministry, together with Fiji Airways have been in­volved in this massive collabo­rative effort.

He also said that there was a reduction of approximately 33 percent in Tourism Fiji’s mar­keting budget.

“Tourism Fiji will realign and lead marketing activities across Fiji’s international markets, the global budget share based on current market intelligence, shows some stronger potential as I mentioned.

“We will increase our market­ing spend in the North Ameri­can market, given strong senti­ments and no return quarantine requirement.

“We will do this whil maintain­ing our presence in Australia and New Zealand markets be­cause of our heavy reliance and stronger brand presence.

“Fiji has also streamlined its own operations and reduced its operating costs by about 30 per­cent when compared to the pre-COVID numbers.”

Edited by Losirene Lacanivalu