Fiji to target lux market

A WAVE of new luxury hotel openings is giving Fiji the positioning needed to pursue new markets and increase tourism yields, according to Tourism Fiji chief executive Matthew Stoeckel.

“Fiji is not just a family destination, we also have a high end product,” Stoeckel said at the Fijian Tourism Expo being held at the Sheraton Fiji Resort.

“We are starting to have a strong critical mass of luxury product,” he said.

Recent upmarket launches including the Fiji Marriott Resort Momi Bay, Kokomo Private Island and the upgraded Sheraton Resort & Spa Tokoriki Island will be backed by other properties in the pipeline including the Six Senses Fiji due later this year.

Stoeckel said this would allow Fiji to put a new emphasis on high-yield travellers in its future marketing campaigns.

“We still see huge potential in our Australian market and we need to broaden the consumer’s understanding beyond a family destination to include all the other outstanding product we offer,” he said.

“We have only a fixed infrastructure - a fixed number of hotel rooms and a fixed number of flights coming in - so a way for us to increase and enhance the tourism benefit to the country is through raising yield.

“We now have the right product for that and we will be getting behind that in more luxury focussed marketing campaigns.”

This would be reflected in an upcoming “brand revitalisation”, Stoeckel said, based on current research examining perceptions in the key markets of Australia, the US and New Zealand.

Fiji’s increase in luxury products has helped attract a record 160 international buyers to the 2017 Fijian Tourism Expo, Stoeckel said, of which 50 would take part in the largest post-show famil program Tourism Fiji has hosted.

See page six for more coverage from the Fiji Tourism Expo.