If Fiji is ever to ride out the economic impact that COVID-19 has created, even in this third wave, adaptability and operating in the new norm are the key.

And at the heart and key to this growth is keeping our borders open for international travel, getting more Fijians employed and for businesses to be more forward-thinking.

Westpac Report
Westpac released its Fiji Quarterly Economic Update January 2022 with a subtitle 2022: The Year of Recovery.

The bank’s chief economist, Krishal Prasad, said: “Overall, if Fiji is able to sustain the momentum of tourism activity and the third wave of COVID-19 is contained, we anticipate a rebound of 11.5 per cent for 2022.

“Fiji’s strategy on the health front has allowed the economy to reopen and activity to somewhat return.

“A wave of policy support has also been critically important, coupled with the effectiveness of the vaccine rollout.

“While challenges and risks remain in the form of the third wave of infections, new vaccine resistant variants, natural disasters, and the upcoming general elections, for now the economy has considerable momentum as it proceeds into 2022.”

The Reserve Bank of Fiji in its January Economic Review said: “…23,226 visitors were received in December, mostly from Australia and the US.”

Quarantine-Free Travel
Minister for Commerce, Trade, Tourism and Transport Faiyaz Koya alluded in mid-January that more than 65,000 tourism were expected in the country over the next three months.

He said that since the reopening of borders on December 1, we have welcomed a daily average of 1200 visitors.

Since Tuesday, Fiji has added more countries in the list for quarantine- free travel.

Tourism Fiji chief executive officer Brent Hill on his Twitter handle last week said the Netherlands, Germany, Austria and Norway were now on the list.

On Tuesday, he again tweeted that China, Hong Kong, Sri Lanka, Malaysia and Saudi Arabia were now added to the list.

This quarantine-free travel scheme adopted by many countries around the world that were tourism-dependent pre-COVID is, in this new norm, vital for recovery.

Ripple Effect
Therefore, having more visitors to Fiji would mean the demand for more resorts and properties to open and a ripple effect begins to be painted.

On Tuesday the internationally acclaimed adults-only resort, Likuliku Island Resort, finally opened after being shut for 699 days.

Sheraton Fiji is preparing for its comeback on March 16.

As Mr Brent highlighted in an interview: “The more resorts open, the more there are transport operators – the ferry operators and boat operators as well – from that perspective it does have a really nice cascading effect of more businesses opening to service.

“It means, obviously, more people getting employed in tourism, which is always, always good news.”

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