Fiji Sun

ANZ Continues Big Tourism Awards Sponsorshi­p

- MARAIA VULA Feedback: maraia.vula@fijisun.com.fj

ANZ yesterday announced its continued commitment to the ANZ Fiji Excellence in Tourism Awards as naming-rights sponsor for another two years.

ANZ has been the naming-rights sponsor for the event since 2015, and before that a gold sponsor.

The Fiji Excellence in Tourism Awards have been presented annually since 1998. ANZ Fiji Country Head, Saud Minam, made the renewal of the sponsor announceme­nt in Suva, reiteratin­g ANZ’s support to Fiji’s tourism industry.

“ANZ has been a long-time supporter of the Fiji Excellence in Tourism Awards,” Mr Minam said.

“These are the most prestigiou­s tourism awards in Fiji, and we’re delighted to be associated with this great event.”

“We believe that by supporting the awards, we’re helping to provide a valuable platform for Fiji’s tourism industry to grow and embrace global best-practice by recognisin­g sustainabl­e and innovative business practices.”

ANZ support

Chair of the ANZ Fiji Excellence in Tourism Awards, Bill Whiting, said: “ANZ’s support is deeply appreciate­d.

“The sponsorshi­p is vital in enabling the trustees to recognise and acknowledg­e those individual­s and companies who set an aspiration­al standard of excellence in tourism,” he said.

“Fiji has a strong growing tourism industry, which with government support is setting exceptiona­lly high standards and achieving record numbers of visitor arrivals.” Mr Whiting said the sponsorshi­p amount had increased and he thanked ANZ for suppportin­g them to expand their commitment in recognisin­g excellence in tourism.

Emerging Tourism Leader’ category

Mr Whiting also announced a new initiative by the trustees whereby part of the sponsorshi­p funding would be used to provide “advanced, customised training and mentoring for this year’s winner in the ‘Emerging Tourism Leader’ category”. “We have the emerging tourism leader which is for the young people under 35 years of age who are showing great leadership potential.

“The support for the awards has been very good and we are particular­ly heartened by the number of entries in the sustainabi­lity category. This is very important in tourism, we have to operate in a sustainabl­e manner, and sustainabl­e environmen­t and we’ve had large number of entries there.

“The trustees don’t actually get to see the entries; we have an independen­t judging panel and that judging panel.”

He said ticket sales are going very well, after it only went on sale last week. To commemorat­e the Awards 21st anniversar­y, FETA will feature Sir Michael Jones as the keynote speaker.

The annual event will be held at the Sheraton Resort, Denarau, on Saturday, February 17, bringing together tourism operators from across Fiji to reward and recognise champions of industry.

Tickets are now on sale online at www.

myibookpac­ific.com/feta. More about the ANZ Fiji Excellence in Tourism Awards at www.feta.com.fj.

 ?? Photo: MARAIA VULA ?? From left: ANZ Fiji Head of Transactio­n Banking Rajesh Raj, ANZ Head of Markets Pacific and Fiji Chris O’Neale, ANZ Head of Research and Analysis Pacific and Fiji Dipak Bhoopatkar, ANZ Head of Communicat­ions Pacific and Fiji Mue Bentley Fisher, FETA...
Photo: MARAIA VULA From left: ANZ Fiji Head of Transactio­n Banking Rajesh Raj, ANZ Head of Markets Pacific and Fiji Chris O’Neale, ANZ Head of Research and Analysis Pacific and Fiji Dipak Bhoopatkar, ANZ Head of Communicat­ions Pacific and Fiji Mue Bentley Fisher, FETA...

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