We Are Resilient! Fijians Must Invest, Spend Locally to Boost Our Economy

It is important that everyone spend their money within Fiji for the next few months, as much as possible.

If there is one thing that everyone knows about Fiji, it is our resilience. Once the global pandemic COVID-19 blows over, Fiji will bounce back.

It will not be done overnight. However, it will take months for us to get the state of our economy back to where it was before this pandemic reached our shores.

But all locals have a huge role to play.

While Fiji has been able to contain the spread of COVID-19 so far, countries from where most of our tourists come from, are still working hard to keep their infection numbers and death toll down.

This is where, domestic tourism will play a part in getting our hotels reopened and some 25,000 people back at work.

Once travel restrictions have lifted in Fiji and gatherings are allowed again, it would be the time for Fijians to spend their money locally rather than flying overseas for their holidays and gatherings.

For domestic tourism to thrive, our hotels would need to put together packages to entice locals to get married in resorts, host birthday parties in hotel restaurants amongst other events. Business houses once fully back on their feet should also look at sourcing many things locally as well.

Apart from domestic tourism, encouraging businesses to buy local would also be essential.

This would include buying work uniforms from local companies, sourcing furniture locally and looking at SMEs for various goods and services would be a good start.

At the same time, it is important that everyone spend their money within Fiji for the next few months, as much as possible. Your economic activity will help the farmers in the Sigatoka Valley, the fishermen from the islands and the roadside vendors.