David Voss of Hertz Fiji tells it the way it is!
The Mole asked David, who lives and works in Suva, to give an overview from his perspective of how he saw everything happening in Fiji and its impact.
This what he told The Mole: –
The unfortunate part of our current political situation is the word COUP, because everyone appears to think that this means killing, pillage, rape etc but that does not happen in Fiji.
All is not lost though!
I reside in Pacific Harbour which is a resort area 58 km out of Suva and I travel into Suva everyday, just happening to pass the Fiji Naval Base where there are navy personal checking for missing Government vehicles and they all wave, smile and genuinely brighten the day.
Passing through villages I get the same response I have always enjoyed from people with smiles and acknowledgements, making for a relaxed and comfortable drive.
On reaching Suva I cannot see any single trace of any COUP or any disturbance as the CBD is a bustling arena of people walking around, shopping and generally having fun.
As an example, I had lunch yesterday at JJ’s on the Park, a hotel located in the centre of Suva and there were over one hundred patrons in the restaurant – it was the same in numerous eating places throughout Suva.
I might also add there are NO army personal on the streets of the CBD.
The one positive thing that is evident is that since the army takeover, what crime there was has reduced dramatically and this is a major plus for the actions taken by the army and for tourists.
There is a chance that the actions taken by the military will benefit Fiji, but the biggest impact is the travel advisories which are not going to make any difference whatsoever to the Commanders thinking but what they do is that they hit the worker in the tourism industry and this is a major problem.
As you are all aware there is dramatic downturn in visitor arrivals and staff are being laid off or experiencing drastic reduction in working hours.
So, who suffers? Well, it’s the ordinary person who really has no interest in politics.
One must admit we should be in the Guinness Book of Records for being the only country that has publicly advertised an impending Coup!
I travel around the island visiting resorts and talking to the guests and everyone you talk to cannot see what all the fuss is about.
It may be useful if some guests were to email you their thoughts whilst they are here and I am sure the hotels would assist them.
Overall other than the dramatic downturn in business life goes on, but have no doubts, Suva will be “The Place To Be and A Place To See“ now and in the future.
Myself I have been here 33 years and 4 coups and we will keep going.
When I am asked “What do you do?
I reply very simply, “I’m in the YoYo business, we go up and then come down”.
That’s all for today form Suva – I’m busy doing much more important things than any coup or actually “no coup”, I’m organizing a Christmas Party for our Suva staff and its going to be great fun.
Regards from “war torn – yeah right, I don’t see any war here” Suva!
David Voss – Hertz Fiji
John Alwyn-Jones
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