Tourism Fiji and Facebook partner for small business hub
Ahead of Fiji’s eventual reentry to the international travel market, this online seminar attracted 120 industry operators, suppliers and MSMEs looking to upskill their teams.
Tourism Fiji and Facebook recently partnered to host local tourism industry stakeholders and micro, small and medium enterprises (MSMEs) at the Small Business Hub, a digital guide for participants to maximise their presence on the world’s largest social media platform.
Ahead of Fiji’s eventual re-entry to the international travel market, the online seminar attracted 120 industry operators, suppliers and MSMEs looking to upskill their teams.
“Tourism has been severely impacted by COVID-19, and digital literacy is an important way to build the capacity of our operators and help them take their business to where many people spend their time – Facebook,” noted Tourism Fiji’s director of marketing, Emma Campbell.
Participants represented a range of industry backgrounds in tourism, hospitality, advertising, public relations, retail, and
finance. Hosts
They were hosted by teams from Facebook Australia and Facebook New Zealand alongside Mrs Campbell and Tourism Fiji’s global digital manager, Rush Pathak.
“It’s been a tough 15 months since borders closed,” Mr Pathak said.
“Facebook applications have been critical to maintaining Fiji’s brand to international visitors – keeping Fiji in the hearts and minds of those who can’t visit at the moment.”
Among other topics, the online seminar included marketing for beginner and inter
mediate-level Facebook marketing, access to complimentary digital tools and marketing plans and general best practices for businesses during lockdown.
“As we have seen around the world, the pandemic has accelerated digital transformation for many businesses,” noted Nick McDonnell, Facebook’s public policy manager for New Zealand and the Pacific Islands.
Policy
“We are pleased to be able to partner with Tourism Fiji to support small businesses on that journey, alongside the work we do in Fiji in digital literacy for youth, COVID-19 and
disaster response campaigns.”
The Facebook policy team joined the conversation to share the important work they are doing with the Fijian Government to help improve digital literacy across the country.
Tourism Fiji said the work undertaken in Fiji and across the South Pacific was used to:
help fight the spread of misinformation, to promote authentic and official health and safety information on COVID-19, and to assist emergency disaster management responses during severe weather.