Strengthen Fiji connection
With better air connectivity via Singapore, Tourism Fiji is optimistic of getting more tourists from India.
Tourism Fiji held a three city roadshow in India in association with a Fiji-based DMC, Rosie Holidays, to promote the destination and its offerings to the travel trade. “We’ve planned roadshows in Delhi, Kolkata and Mumbai, where we are doing frontline training and cocktails. The idea is to target the upcoming honeymoon season, because Fiji is a honeymoon destination, and we have done very well in this particular market. We have a total of six resorts showcasing their products, along with our partners Rosie Holidays,” said
Pranav Kapadia, Founder, Global Destinations, which represents Fiji in India.
Vaijayanthi Kari, Country Head, Tourism Fiji, added, “All the three markets are good in terms of outbound travel, because they want to go beyond just a beach destination and are looking for experiential, action-packed holidays. What works in Fiji’s favour is that it has a lot to offer.”
Kapadia said that they are still a small market for India with close to 4,000 arrivals. However, “we’ve grown over the last 3-4 years by 20-25 per cent on average year on year. The biggest challenge that we’ve been facing in the past is connectivity, but since April this year, Fiji Airways has started flying twice weekly from Singapore. This has helped boost the connectivity with a better airfare as well. They also have thoroughfares with Jet Airways and Singapore Airlines, which has tremendously improved connectivity out of 11 cities exIndia,” he claimed. Kari added, “We already have five flights from Hong Kong every week. I think the two weekly flights from Singapore should add to our numbers. We are seeing many travel agents coming to us with the kind of itineraries people are looking for.” While travel trade has been a focus for Tourism Fiji, Kapadia informed that now they will also target consumers directly. “For the last 4-5 years, we’ve been spending our budgets in educating the trade, because we strongly believe that if the travel trade is educated, they will sell our destination to the consumer. While such training, roadshows and networking will continue in future as well, we will also focus on the consumer, so that even they would tell the agent that they’d like to go to Fiji.”