A vision for sports tourism in Fiji
SPORTS, particularly rugby, has always been a big advertisement for Fijians and more importantly, Destination Fiji, with our sporting men and women often recognised and therefore included as part of “brand Fiji”.
Despite discussions that go back many years, Fiji has yet to tap into the real benefits of sports tourism that combines travel with the opportunity to watch a favourite sport, and if the number of people who have travelled to Dubai to watch the FIFA World Cup is any indication, there is a world of potential travellers out there looking to book that dual purpose trip.
The key challenge has been that the bulk of accommodation options are located along the picturesque and drier coastline areas of Fiji, while the sporting facilities for swimming, rugby, netball, basketball and hockey are located in the highly populated capital, and on the opposite side of the main island — much to the annoyance of the sporting population on the “other” side.
Last week in Nadi in a recently cleared field a few degrees off the flight path, as the sun set on another hot day; a small ground-breaking ceremony took place with a sprinkling of sportsmen and women, sporting administrators, tourism stakeholders, landowners, and the odd media representative.
Y.P. Reddy, a local tourism icon and founder of the Tanoa Hotel Group has long been a tourism visionary. A humble man that has always been simply called “YP” setting up his hotels in Nadi, Rakiraki, Lautoka and Suva many years ago, then branching out to Samoa and Tonga, has recently considered that having to cut some old trees advised as being too tall and too close to the flight paths, might be an opportunity to provide a much-needed sports training ground and formal rugby facility.
With over 400 rooms from his hotel chain and a further 10,000 rooms within a 20-minute to 1-hour drive, he has correctly assessed that all that was missing was a proper sporting facility to get the ball rolling – no pun intended.
Over 60 per cent of the room inventory available in Fiji is now locally owned, so the local linkages and flow-on effects are multiplied exponentially through this ownership, the landowning lease connections, deep community interactions and the comprehensive supply chains so inherent with tourism.
The 10 acres of cleared field is being developed into an international standard rugby ground (130m x 70m) with a 50mx50m sized section being developed to host the scrimmage and line-out training areas.
When complete, it will be able to cater for rugby and even soccer matches for local and international fixtures, with a gym and all the other facilities required at sporting venues.
This week, the squad for Fiji’s Super Rugby Pacific team was named with a mixture of experience and new blood.
The women’s team is expected to be named shortly as well for the Super W competition.
They will both be based in Fiji after being kept offshore this past season for COVID concerns and each has represented the country magnificently last year, with our female ruggers making Fiji so very proud by the end of the season.
Rugby as a sport can bring this nation together like nothing else has been able to and unite every Fijian from all walks of life.
The number of international sporting events that Fiji has hosted this year includes rugby’s Pacific Nations Cup, netball’s Netball World Cup Oceania Qualifier and soccer’s OFC Women’s Nations Cup 2022.
These draw athletes, officials, media and broadcasters from participating countries and the tourism opportunities for events like these are sizable and require more staffing, transportation, event coordinators, entertainment, fresh produce, food and beverages and many other areas once you add spectators to the list.
Fiji has benefited from the impact of these demands that also reach the community level through Active Sports Tourism where participation in the event brings huge ripple effects.
Eco-Challenge — the World’s Toughest Race was staged pre-COVID and was premiered on television and social media around the world before that international golfing events here have seen similar, although smaller benefits.
Also creating their impact with a completely different and more nature-inspired following include the bodacious surfers finding their way down regularly to our spectacular wave offerings at Cloudbreak or Tavarua, the avid fishermen coming for the annual game fishing competitions and the yachties arriving annually for the yachting regattas.
They are all coming in to take part in or be a spectator for these specific sporting challenges.
And all of these people need accommodation, which is why the Qatari government has resorted to constructing those tent villages for the FIFA World Cup event, apparently selling out on these from $F412 a night.
So Fiji has a fantastic opportunity to grow this sports tourism segment and be a leader in the region.
Timely therefore that some visionaries like” YP” from the private sector are still around who believe they can boost the sector by spending the millions of dollars that are required to break new ground on a sports facility that is sure to set the pace for the demand that will continue to grow. But it does not stop there. Having to clear the trees was incentive enough to ensure that the sports facility will be able to incorporate a lot of sustainable segments in its development that includes the use of a borehole for the irrigation system, solar lights around the boundary of the facility and the replanting of trees that will not be a risk to low flying aircraft, and as many other sustainable construction methods as can be incorporated.
Recently, after the Fijian Drua’s two matches in Fiji earlier this year, several commentators made comments about Fiji hosting Super Rugby’s Super Round that created an exciting buzz of “what if’s” for us.
The Super Round is when all participating teams play their matches in one venue over three days, usually held near ANZAC Day.
Such an amazing concept but for Fiji, a logistical challenge of monstrous proportions with ten teams of 50+ players and staff each, TV crews, tournament staff and last but not least, both local and international fans.
While within the realm of possibility, it does provide a few headaches in terms of the requirements for accommodation and transportation and although on a scale far larger than tourism is used to managing, is certainly within event management organisation that we have to coordinate every so often – of course without the added requirements of very specific rugby facilities criteria that must be met.
So might this field clearance be the start that sees the ongoing development of sports facilities that would see us eventually being able to host many more sporting events, especially in the west where the room inventory is higher?
Will there eventually be a sporting facility able to accommodate several teams to train, warm up, get physio and medical attention, as well as play? All within the very specific required travelling time frames to get to and from their accommodation?
Though we’ll admit, at least someone is giving it a go.
And doing so allows for the further diversification of an industry that must continually review its offerings to stay relevant.
More demand will filter through to more demand for rooms, facilities, and the accompanying supportive infrastructure.
The referee’s whistle has gone and the game has started.
Thank you YP, we will not be left behind.
■ FANTASHA LOCKINGTON is the CEO of the Fiji Hotel and Tourism Association. The views expressed in this article are not necessarily the
views of this paper.