RUPENI WAQAVONO
Tourists in Australia and New Zealand have been urged to choose Fiji as their holiday destination as stringent processes have been put in place to protect Fijians and visitors from the COVID-19 virus.
Tourism Fiji new chief executive officer Brent Hill said that with almost close to 70 per cent of our local population fully vaccinated, Fiji is well-positioned to cater for tourists when the international borders open.
“Tourists that are coming to Fiji have to be fully vaccinated and have to submit a PCR (polymerase chain reaction) test 72 hours prior to boarding. In that sense, it eliminates the risks because you got fully vaccinated people coming to Fiji and the Fijian people, they interact with are also fully vaccinated.”
“When they land, we’re making it very clear to tourists that if they want to pick transport or they want to pick an accommodation or experiences, they must follow our Care Fiji Commitment programme and all our operators must have their staff 100 per cent vaccinated,” Mr. Hill said.
He also added that the industry was also looking forward to opening up more domestic tourism with the ‘Love Your Local’s programme being reintroduced due to popular demand.
“Domestic tourism is a great opportunity for businesses to gear up and getting ready for international tourism so I think it’s really important for us as a country.”
“We’ve got five-star hotels offering room at around $145-$150/night which is a really good strong value, but also from that perspective what we’re seeing is that there’s a lot of hotels that are now 100 per cent vaccinated and they are re-employing people so they are really getting ready,” Mr. Hill said.
He also urged tourists in Australia and New Zealand to come to Fiji because the income it generates will help people get their jobs back.
“We want people to come here and have fun, enjoy Fiji, learn about Fiji, know about Fiji and our culture but at the same time we want them to know when they come, they’re really helping us.”
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