With Its Major Cumulative Value Fiji International Is Here To Stay

The 2018 Fiji International presented by Fiji Airways is another big success for the country.

With Government support, this golfing event came under a lot of criticism ever since it first started, but today it has served its purpose and proved critics wrong.

With the Fiji International and Tourism Fiji brands combined it provided a gross media value of $33.4 million in 2017, a cumulative value of more than $72m and a broadcast reach to more than 46 countries in the past four years.

Minister for Industry, Trade and Tourism, Lands and Mineral Resources Faiyaz Koya says as a result Fiji’s brand visibility increased by 34 per cent after broadcast hours increased from 1114 in 2016 to 1361 hours in 2017.

“The total combined hours of broadcast over the four years to date of the tournament is 3531 hours, (nearly 900 hours per year, which is equivalent to 38 consecutive days of broadcast),” he said.

The new tri-sanctioning relationship between PGAAustralasia, the European Tour and the Asian Tour, has also raised the profile of the Fiji International. The European Tour is one of the prestigious and strongest professional golf tours in the world and reaches 450 million homes globally.

Also, being part of the Asian Tour boosts the Fiji International’s official world ranking status, thus ensuring the event attracts more high-ranking players to the tournament.

Through these platforms, Fiji has extended its reach to emerging visitor markets in China and India while strengthening our visibility in traditional markets of Australia and New Zealand.

Mr Koya said over the past four years, more than 500 professional golfers from 29 different countries have participated from key tourism markets. This year we have former world number one Ernie Els while over the years, along with our own Vijay Singh, we had two-time US Open winner Nick Price, US Open and Masters winner Angel Cabrera and PGA Tour veteran Mike Weir coming over.

Altogether, these golfers have collectively won 13 major titles and 4 Masters Green Jackets.

Who knows maybe the great Tiger Woods will be here for next year’s event?

Mr Koya said Government was pleased to partner with PGA to achieve the vision of shaping Fiji into a world-class golfing destination.

Apart from the success of our tourism industry, which is now the country’s biggest revenue earner, the beneficiaries of the Fiji International has trickled down to our local communities especially children who are less privileged.

For the past years, the Fiji International has been running golf clinics and development programmes, such as, the Westpac Schools Golf Programme in schools like Penang Primary School, Tagore Memorial School, Sigatoka Special School and Mahatma Gandhi Memorial Primary School.

Last week saw the culmination of this programme, where about 50 students took part in the mini Fiji International at the Shangri-La Fijian golf course.

The Fiji International has offered a $5000 scholarship to a Fiji National University student majoring in tourism through its volunteer programme, facilitated a skills and development workshop in partnership with the Fiji Arts Council for the Sanasana Women’s group, sponsored the Sanasana rugby team and provided expertise and donated equipment to the local golf clubs to ensure the growth of golf in Fiji.

The latest one the “Bucks for Birdies” initiative whereby $10 would be donated to six schools around the Natadola and Coral Coast region for every birdie scored during this year’s tournament.

With an average of 1300 birdies scored each year, it will be exciting to see the results of this year’s tournament since every shot taken by the world’s best golfers will mean much more to the Fijian people.

There’s no turning back as the Fiji International presented by Fiji Airways is here to stay.

People do not understand the importance of keeping their teeth and gums healthy given that it can affect their lives in many ways. Dr Avikash Singh Fiji Dental Association president