Tourism Fiji chief executive officer Brent Hill is in the United Kingdom promot­ing Fiji via Tourism Fiji’s travel trade.

Mr Hill said it was a great opportunity to meet with travel partners who could sell Fiji to the World.

“We have been invited to speak about Fiji’s recovery and tourism at a number of large conferences here in London in­cluding at City Nation Place, the Wan­derlust awards and WTM (World Travel Market),” he said.

“UK tourist numbers are still soft – only about 45% of 2019, but we’re working hard on growing that into 2023.”

Bookings

Future booking trends for tourists visiting Fiji shows no signs of slow­ing down with close to 590,000 tourists expected to have visited Fiji at the end of 2022 since the borders reopened last December.

Mr Hill said Fiji was well above its forecast.

While the booking trends were look­ing positive and strong for the remain­ing days of the year, Mr Hill said hard work was also being put in approach­ing 2023.

He said the number of tourists arriv­ing into the country next year would also increase tremendously.

“We look like we will achieve 550 to 590K tourists this year, and next year our forecast is to increase to 690 to 700K,” said Mr Hill.

“The main thing we’re focused on though is the sustainable growth, and dollar per tourist, that’s the real prize as that really helps our tourism economy.”

He said bookings were positive right across the country and it was vital to ensure that tourists make the most of their stay, getting the luxury treat­ment that Fiji has to offer.

“Bookings have been solid right across Fiji, but we’re really working hard on getting that dispersal across Fiji,” he said.

“Recently on our social media and digital channels we shared some properties on Kadavu, Taveuni, the wonderful Lau and Yasawa cruises by Captain Cook Cruises, and properties in Vanua Levu.

“We’re very keen to ensure tourists travel right across Fiji and experience all that Fiji has to offer.

“We have seen strong pickup in plac­es like Yasawa Islands since a concert­ed marketing effort from the middle of the year.”

Bula Bubble Packages

Mr Hill added the Bula Bubble Pack­ages, since its introduction during the COVID-19 pandemic period in Fiji, was a tremendous success introduced by the Fijian Government.

“There aren’t plans to continue with that construct exactly, but we’re work­ing really hard with our tourism part­ners to continue to provide great pack­ages and pricing into 2023,” he said.

“As announced by MCTTT (Minis­try of Commerce, Trade, Tourism and Transport) recently the tourism economy now exceeds over $1billion, which is very strong.

“Spend per tourist as outlined in the IVS (International Visitor Survey) is up 12% on 2019 numbers on a spend per tourist number – we are incredibly pleased with that.

He said the long haul travel from tourist destinations such as Europe was slow to recover due to a lot of dis­ruption in global airports, staffing is­sues and demand, and pricing of fuel.

“However, that is starting to normal­ize and we’re looking ahead to 2023 to really grow long haul travel again,” he said.

Projects

He said there were two critical pro­ject developments in the Nadi area and that included the Pullman Nadi Bay Resort and Spa Fiji and the Wes­tin Denarau Island Resort and Spa, Fiji.

Mr Hill said both projects were criti­cal.

“The Pullman and Westin projects are two critical developments that will add over 500 rooms to Nadi in a category we can comfortably fill – there is very strong demand,” said Mr Hill.

“We’re working closely with Invest­ment Fiji and the MCTTT to continue to work on sustainable investment and growth in the industry – it’s im­portant and key to growth going for­ward.

“It’s great to see progress on these projects but they’re still quite a few months away from opening.”

Feedback: nicolette.chambers@fijisun.com.fj