BRING ON THE VACCINE
TURTLE ISLAND RESORT STAFF MEMBERS EAGERLY RECEIVE JABS WITH HIGH SPIRITS
Seventeen staff members of Turtle Island Resort were in high spirits yesterday while making their way to be vaccinated at the Nadi International Airport. The group arrived early from the island and while waiting for a few hours at the airport they sang and danced joyfully before getting vaccinated.
Resort manager Bill Mualele said they heard a lot of news of fear about the vaccine, but they were not deterred.
“We have committed ourselves to be vaccinated today because we miss our tourist friends. Also, for them coming to our resort, was the major source of income for the whole of Yasawa i-Rara,” Mr Mualele said.
“Our purpose of being here is to encourage us all on the most possible way to prevent us from being affected by COVID-19. Secondly, being vaccinated today, we want to show the world that we are reviving the friendly and welcoming spirit for all our tourists to come back to the islands.
“The best thing that we can do is to support the Government and try to restore our economy.”
Resort staff member Mere Makitalini said being vaccinated meant that she was ready to receive visitors back to the island.
Airports Fiji Limited manager for Landside Operations and Customer Services, Joe Gray, said the resort staff made a huge difference as they came in with high spirits, filled with resilience and hope for the better days ahead of them. “They actually suffered from the pandemic, with reduced hours and no guests on the island for the past 12 months,” he said.
“It is so touching to see their spirit of resilience, hope and positive attitude that they have towards coming here to be vaccinated, to support the Government and to get their lives back.
“They have set the pace for other island resort staff to be encouraged and come forth, and let us all prepare for readiness, to fly for our borders to open.”