THE SPIRIT OF CASTAWAY IS
Ifirst visited Castaway Island as part of a one-day media field trip in November 2020 and was amazed by both the beauty of the place and the spirit of its staff. This was against the backdrop of the first wave of the COVID-19 pandemic, as the country’s tourism industry struggled to find ways to stay alive and recover.
It was desperate times, but the commitment of the island team to keep the resort rolling despite the difficult challenges, was inspiring. I was so inspired I told the staff then that I would return one day with my family to really experience the place.
I saw first-hand in 2020 the pride and passion Castaway workers had for their work and the sustainability of the island, even as the resort struggled to stay on its feet.
Over the Christmas break I returned to Castaway as a guest and saw first hand how the island and the industry was well and truly on its feet and marching ahead.
Legacy
“Castaway is back. Fiji is back,” says resort general manager Steven Andrews.
Castaway has been around since way back. 1964 to be exact, when it was started as a day tripper island by industry icon Dick Smith who later founded Musket Cove. In 1966 he put up the first 4 bungalows and it has grown to the 65 that is now there today
The island has a rich legacy and is a signature property of the Mamanuca group.
Andrews has been at the resort for 17 years. His eldest son was just a year old when he got the call to run the resort by the island’s then former owner Geoffrey Shaw. Ownership has changed hands three times since Geoffrey Shaw but subsequent owners have continued to build and strengthen an already naturally beautiful product.
Castaway Island, Fiji Resort is now part of the Outrigger Resorts & Hotels group Their sister property is the Outrigger Fiji Beach Resort in Sigatoka.
“It has always been a priority that the essence and identity of the island is maintained,” says Andrews. “We’ve always wanted to ensure that the feel of the place remains.” He describes the feel as a real island Fiji experience where guests are encouraged to slow their pace down and disconnect as soon as they enter, and embrace the spirit and values of the island.
“Investment and re-investment on the island has seen great development and the island continues to grow,” says Andrews.
These include investments in state of the art back of house equipment such as the recently installed desalination plant that can produce 210,000 litres of water per day.
The resort has been big on environmental management, incorporating it into all areas of its operations.
Friendly environment
“Being a maritime property it is important for us to look after our environment, because this is what our guests come here for. To enjoy the ocean, the reef, the island – so we have to ensure we sustain the environment.”
The island has been big on their reef protection and rejuvenation with an established coral farming and clam farming programme that has seen success and reward with marine life flourishing. Guests are invited to participate in the endeavor and it provides a new dimension to their island experience.
“As an Outrigger property and embracing the Outrigger’s sustainability programme - Ozone, we are moving towards the goal to have a football field of coral,” says Andrews.
Embracing the ridge to reef concept the resort has also invested on revitalizing the flora and fauna on the island and is in the middle of a phased programme to reintroduce the Fijian Crested iguanas that were endemic on the island, but were wiped out by feral cats.
The island team has successfully removed feral cats from the island as part of the first stage, and this has seen the exciting return of some rare birds including the
flightless bird the Bici.
“We are starting to even see them around the guest areas. They are coming back and that’s a good sign for us,” says Andrews.
The resort is liaising with experts on which areas to get the iguanas from, as well as identify an area on the island to relocate them to, where there is sufficient food and areas in the forest to move around.
Challenges
As an island property the key challenges remain transportation, supplies and the fuel and energy to power its stand-alone infrastructure, and this has been carefully and innovatively managed.
“The challenge for us is our locality, the delivery of goods, we are dependent on supplies from the mainland and barges and transportation that contributes to the added costs,” says Andrews.
“We have to generate our own electricity and fuel is a huge cost. Any increase in fuel prices sees operation costs shoot up.”
The island continues to explore ways to save fuel - looking at their electricity usage and being creative by using energy saving equipment and energy saving lights.
“Every equipment we bring has to be energy saving and fuel efficient.”
They have also undertaken some successful trials to switch to alternative energy – including installation of equipment to turn their kitchen refuse into bio gas.
“We are saving on expensive LPG costs by using bio gas which powers our award winning restaurant 1808.”
‘Locals can do the job’
Seventeen years is a long time on an island and Andrews would be one of the longest serving general managers of a tourism property in Fiji.
He admits he has tried to move on several times, but subsequent owners have endeavored to keep him on to continue with the great legacy of the island.
Their faith in him, a local, has also given Andrews the confidence to build a managerial team of experienced locals around him.
“Locals can do the job,” says Andrews.
“We have people who have the talent and experience, and we are looking for those that are genuine, that have that true Bula spirit and right attitude, and at the same time can embrace goals.”
“Here at Castaway, all our management team are locals except for engineering where it has been difficult to source local expertise, however our chief engineer is training a local for the opportunity to take over from him.”
The resort’s executive chef is local – rising through the ranks after with guidance from previous international executive chefs that have been on the island.
A major challenge Andrews and his management team are facing is human resource as many service area staff are leaving Fiji for Australia and NZ.
He has lost up to 70 percent of the staff in his kitchen particularly chefs and those in food and beverage.
“The challenge is not just with our island - this is an issue all over Fiji,” says Andrews.
“HR teams from different properties are directly poaching each others chefs and in the end we are only undermining each other.”
He is urging the new Government to invest more in training for the trades and skills needed in the industry and produce graduates who can effectively boost required key areas.
The staff have looked after Castaway because Castaway has looked after them.
During the second wave of the COVID pandemic, the owners allowed Castaway to keep their staff and continued to pay them even when they were at home during lockdown.
“When we opened up, they all came back. They came back with a lot of spirit,” says Andrews. Castaway has opened now for just over a year after emerging from the lockdown of the COVID second wave, and Andrews is excited about the future.
“This year will be one of the best year ever for us and we are already forecasting that the new year will be an even better year than this year,” he says.
Good rates
Other factors have helped including the increase in destinations reached by Fiji Airways such as the recently launched Vancouver flights, and the increased flight frequency to other popular destinations.
While they target the international market, the island continues to encourage locals to visit the island and has an ongoing promotion targeting locals.
“It’s a very good rate compared to what our normal rates are,” says Andrews.
“Our rates are set at a very high rate because of our high operational costs.”
The geo demographics for the island right now is that Australians continue to dominate making up just over 70 per cent of tourists that visit Castaway. New Zealanders make up 20 per cent and North America and Europe making up the rest.
“The challenge for our marketing and revenue team is how they can diversify the market so we not to be too reliant on one. That’s one of the things COVID has taught us,” says Andrews.
He is encouraging Fijians to invest in enjoying the holiday experiences that’s right by their doorsteps.
“Locals need to value holidays,” says Andrews.
“It takes planning. If they want to come for a holiday here - plan it, because it will be worthwhile. It will be worth every single cent that you pay for it.
“Our overseas guests tell us they plan for one year or even two years ahead just to come and have that experience here, and our locals can do it too.”
“Bring your family out to places like these you will not regret the experience. See and feel for yourself the experience that Fiji shows to the world.”