Coup affecting some Fiji tourism operators
Fiji Islands Visitors Bureau CEO, Bill Gavoka has said that Australian tourists had started to cancel holidays to Fiji, but that many were still waiting to see how the latest coup unfolded before opting out of their trip.
He aded that the coup in Fiji is starting to hit tourism operators in the pocket as they desperately try to convince holidaymakers to honour their bookings, adding, “There have been some cancellations for the future bookings, but largely people are taking a wait-and-see kind of attitude about how things will develop over the next couple of weeks”.
GM of the Shangri-La Fijian Resort on the Coral Coast, David Hopcroft, said he had 120 cancellations on the day the country’s fourth coup began, and an additional 30 each day since, adding that the coup hadn’t affected any of the people already on holiday in Fiji, and the Australian government and media were misrepresenting the severity of the situation on the ground.
He said, “We’ve had cancellations and that’s purely and simply because of the footage that people see”. “They see the military uniforms and they get frightened.” “The ones who call us and speak to us do not cancel, because they find out that we’re from Australia and we’re living here, and seeing and breathing it and we assure them of their safety.”
Mr Hopcroft said the hotel was currently operating at around 40% capacity, and that Christmas bookings had dropped by 30%, wi tthe reult that he has had to lay off local casual and seasonal staff, who rely on tourism income to survive.
The brand new $12 million convention centre that has just been built at the hotel is standing empty because many employers’ insurance won’t cover business trips to countries with high level travel warnings.
“It’s very sad because you really wouldn’t know there’s a coup on in this country,” Mr Hopcroft said.
Mr Gavoka said the airports, transportation system and the hotels were operating normally, adding, “You don’t even have to stop at roadblocks … all tourists see is the military smiling and waving”.
Mr Gavoka said the Tourism Action Group would be meeting in the coming days to determine a plan of action to lure tourists back to Fiji.
Report by The Mole
John Alwyn-Jones
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