Outrigger Fiji Beach Resort general manager, Darren Shaw said the resort was excited to see healthy occupancies in the coming months.

This indictated that Fiji was truly back with the bula spirit, he added.

Mr Shaw made this comment in an interview following the welcoming of the Birmingham 2022 Queen’s Baton Relay at the Coral Coast-based resort yesterday.

The four baton carriers were Mr Shaw, Tavenisa Tamanivalu, Aporosa Tabulawaki and renowned athlete, Eugene Vollmer.

Mr Shaw said it was an exciting moment for the resort and for the baton carriers as they were chosen under the resort’s spirit of vuvale.

More than 100 Outrigger staff were part of the welcoming party.

“This is very exciting for the resort,” he said.

“First of all we feel honoured to have the baton here and the people that we have selected have also played a special part in being sports and athletic-related but also very related to both Fijian as well as being Outrigger’s.

“I am really excited and so as we handover, each family or each participant has an exciting story to tell about the history with Outrigger and the history of Fiji.”

Borders reopening

Mr Shaw added that it was also an overwhelming moment to have Fiji’s international borders open up again.

“It is exciting we have been absolutely overjoyed, it is so nice and international borders have opened and it means that here we have got many guests that are coming through and we have had a wonderful December and January period,” he added.

“February and March are always traditionally quiet but for April, May, June and July, there is some really healthy occupancy that we have on the books already and it is a great sign that Fiji is well and truly back.

“At the moment we have about 150 guests that are here right now and this is the quietest month of the year traditionally anyway. However, very soon we will head back up to 300 to 500 guests in a matter of weeks.”

He said the resort’s bula spirit was also a core element that made the resort opening possible.

“We have a great bula spirit amongst ourselves here and we hope that in Outrigger here we certainly do Fiji proud in showing great bula spirit and I’m sure every other resort will be doing something very similar to us,” added Mr Shaw.

nicolette.chambers@fijisun.com.fj