Tanoa’s $0.5m Facility
With the Fijian Drua and Kaiviti Silktails making Nadi and Lautoka its respective home base, the Tanoa International Hotel in Votualevu, Nadi, has cleared space on its property for phase one of a world standard $.5million sports field.
“The Tanoa Sports Centre adds another string to the bow of the Tanoa Hotel Group as it propels sports tourism destinations,” Tourism Fiji’s chief executive officer Brent Hill said at the ground-breaking ceremony on Wednesday.
“It’s exciting to see what this brings to the table. It’s brilliant. It’s this kind of investment that we need. The great thing is it just adds another string to the bow of the hotel here.
“We now got something that potentially is going to offer something special and unique. We can add this now to our list of facilities that will be truly world class. It’s visionary, we need that kind of visionary leadership, and you know the investment in tourism in Fiji.”
Reddy Group director Rohit Reddy said the Tanoa Sports Centre was the brainchild of their management team.
$0.5 million is allocated for phase one. Also present at the groundbreaking event were Silktails coach Wes Naiqama, Fiji Rugby CEO John O’Connor, and Fijian Drua coach Mick Byrne.
According to Reddy several sports teams visited Fiji during the post COVID period but there were, literally, little world class and profes
sional training facilities available.
“Our investment into a world class sports centre not only benefits the Tanoa Hotel Group, but Fiji as a whole in promoting Fiji as a sports tourism destination,” Reddy said.
“The focus is having international standard training facilities for our home teams and visiting international sides.”
The focus with the Tanoa Sports Centre is three-fold – the availability of top training facilities in the country; quality turf and associated
facilities; and the athletes’ health and safety being paramount and sustainable.
While some trees have been cut down to facilitate the project, Tanoa International is committed to replant 10,000 trees to enhance the sports centre, is an added feature to support its sustainable initiatives.
Phase one of the project is expected to be completed in 16 weeks; the field is expected to be ready for use by March 20, weather permitting.
“Fiji is hosting a few Super Rugby
and Super Rugby Women games in the next season; this facility will be ready by then,” Reddy said.
Area general manager Narend Kumar said the new initiative by Tanoa Hotel Group was to continue exploring new opportunities to promote Fiji as a preferred tourism destination.
The facility will eventually accommodate other sports, including football.
“Team Tanoa is ready to fulfil the requirements to assist our tourism partners sell destination Nadi to their valued sports groups,” he said.
“The project will incorporate a lot of sustainable segments like boreholes for the irrigation system, solar lights around the facility and replanting of trees to further enhance the surroundings. We also plan to do walking tracks alongside the borders.”