David Beirman’s Ten Quick Fiji Recovery Tips

With TravelMole working hard leading the travel industry media charge to assist in driving trade and ultimately consumer confidence in travelling to Fiji, I am delighted to let you have the first in a series of tips and reports I will be providing through TravelMole throughout December and January, prior to a planned crisis recovery seminar in Fiji in January – more details to follow in TravelMole!

Of course, operators in Fiji or Australia or New Zealand who want a more in depth discussion or direct advice on how they can ensure their business recovers speedily can contact me on: [email protected] or +61 419 615 479

So on to the ten top tips for today!

These are all pretty simple and straight forward, but unfortunately, often missed by operators busy running their businesses.

1.      For both operators and hotels and resorts, try and make sure that you get feedback/ or testimonials from Aussie travellers who are in Fiji or have just returned from Fiji.  Make sure that you get their written permission to use their testimonial in promotional material and media releases though, but people are generally always very willing and happy to do things like this at times like this. 

It they are happy and willing to do so and without invading their privacy, perhaps even get their photographs on holiday – get their written permission though – and then you can use the photo and testimonial on your web site or if you are a TravelMole partners you can pass it on to TravelMole.

2.      For travel agents, you need to really establish what level of cover travel insurance companies are providing for Fiji and make sure that you can explain this to clients as wars, coups, etc, etc have not been covered by travel insurance for many years.

3.      For travel agents, get first hand assessments from your Fijian ground operators and from Australian wholesalers who are dealing with large numbers of travellers to Fiji and tell your clients that this is what they said!

4.      For travel agents, be in a position to address safety and security concerns and questions from your clients as they apply to resorts, hotels, the airport at Nadi, major attractions,  land transport in Fiji – you need to be well informed and give them the facts and they can then make an informed decision.

5.      For operators, hotels, reports and travel agents, do everything you can to publicise and promote available special deals and if you are a TravelMole partner you can use TravelMole to do this.

6.      For operators and hotels and resorts, encourage both the trade press and travel writers to report first hand on Fiji as it is NOW.  TravelMole is becoming recognised as the source of information on Fiji, so join them as a partner and they will give you heaps of coverage, making your contribution to getting the message out – yes it may mean spending some money, but your Fiji business is at risk and you need to invest in its future.

7.      For travel agents and operators, get the real facts on the situation in Fiji and based on that accurate information, be positive about selling Fiji.

8.      For travel agents and operators, use multiple sources to build up a profile on Fiji and the product that your clients want to buy. Do not simply rely on the daily mass media and the DFAT advisories, do your own research and be very well informed.

9.      Check out the latest information from the Fijian Visitor’s Bureau website www.bulafiji.com and use it as a source of daily information.  Make sure you read TravelMole everyday as over the next couple of months they will be providing heaps of information on Fiji.

10.  For travel agents, really encourage your staff to participate in any available famil trips to Fiji and ask FVB and the operators you sell if there are any coming up.  When your staff return, get them to share your findings with your colleagues and clients and that they become the latest person to have been on the ground.

Bonus tip: be honest about the travel advisory, but also keep it in context.  There is no fighting or bombing as in many other locations with similar levels of travel advisories and whatever issues there have been had been confined to Suva. 

Also explain that DFAT takes a very conservative line and while at the end of the day it is up to the travellers to make the decision, you should also use all the information you can glean from the above to inform them and also obtain information from TravelMole and provide the inforamtion to the client to help them make an informed decision.

I appreciate that these are only the tip of a recovery iceberg, but I look forward to doing whatever I can over the coming weeks to help.

Report by TravelMole’s tourism crisis and recovery correspondent and advisor, David Beirman