Tourism industry needs to complement Government efforts

Major announcements were made by Prime Minister Voreqe Bainimarama when he outlined the reopening plans for Fiji. But, the tourism stakeholders need to step up and match Fijian Government’s efforts to get tourists to Fiji.

With borders reopening this will be a new way of travel, no doubt.

And, Fiji is competing against some very cheap destinations.

What helps us is Government’s decision to push for mass vaccination and of course the choice of vaccine also makes a huge difference.

It would have been a nightmare if Fiji was pushing forth a vaccine which was not recognised by countries where the largest numbers of our tourists come from.

So far, Government has done everything possible trained their frontliners to deal with this pandemic, put in place measures, got that golden number of 80 per cent of eligible Fijians vaccinated and got the greenlight from countries such as Britain as well.

But, all this effort needs to be complemented by our tourism stakeholders.

Our tourism sector has suffered, no one is denying that.

But, at the same time, our tourism industry has had months to come up with ideas and strategies on how to safely reopen their doors to tourists.

Many have done that and they will be reaping the rewards of it but in order to entice more tourists to come our way, we cannot only rely on Government to shoulder every burden.

Our tourism stakeholders have been major players in the economy and they know what is at stake.

To make the border reopening a success, we need to have the tourism industry doing its bit.

Ball is in their court.

Government has done everything possible- trained their frontliners to deal with this pandemic, put in place measures, got that golden number of 80 per cent of eligible Fijians vaccinated.