Fiji's strong Indian 'connect'
With daily flights from Singapore and Hong Kong to Fiji, the growth in Indian visitors to Fiji will certainly boost, says Damend Gounder, MD, Tour Managers Fiji.
Tour Managers Fiji and Mana Island Resort organised cocktails and networking events in Mumbai, Delhi, Kolkata and Chennai for their travel trade partners. “We are the major operator out of India for Fiji and have been in the market since 2007. This is our annual event and an opportunity to meet all our agent friends, as well as some new agents. That’s how we look at opportunities that we have for Fiji for later part of this year and the early part of next year,” said Gounder.
Abdul Kalaam, Sales Manager-MICE, Mana Island Resort & Spa, Fiji, said, “We are a very big island with 160 rooms. We did a lot of renovation and spent around $5 million upgrading the property. But we came back to square one after the cyclone struck, and we had to put everything back together. It’s a great event arranged by Mr. Gounder and his team. We are meeting travel agents in different cities and it was fantastic. We were well received and we see potential in this market.”
Gounder agreed, saying, “One of the major emphasis and focus is the new flight by Singapore Airlines connecting Singapore with Fiji, which now gives very good connectivity for Indian travellers.” He said that with the new connection, there are a total of seven flights to Fiji from Singapore and Hong Kong. He claimed that the numbers are increasing to Fiji. “If we look at the numbers from last year to this year, there has been a steady increase of about 5-6 per cent. Hopefully, this increase continues next year as well.”
The new flight by Singapore Airlines gives very good connectivity to Indian travellers
Overwhelmed by the support he received from travel agents here, Gounder said they will launch special packages for them. “In the first phase, we are just going to launch a major campaign in a few weeks with some wholesalers. The next phase is in December, when we will launch another set of campaigns, with another lot of wholesalers. We have partnered with Fiji Airways, and are investing close to $50,000-$60,000 just on advertising the product.”