Fiji tourism industry says it will lose millions from the coup
A report in the Fiji Times says that Fiji’s tourism industry will lose millions of dollars in bookings as a result of the impending coup, with the real impact coming today after upgraded travel advisories have warned tourists to stay away.
It reports that a hotel on the Coral Coast has lost $7million worth of bookings this season alone, and tourism stakeholders warn of more trouble for the industry if the trend continues.
Fiji Islands Hotel and Tourism Association chief executive Mereani Korovavala said tourism was in crisis, adding “One of the top hotels in the Coral Coast lost $7million of bookings while the rest expressed their concern over no bookings late this year until next year”.
Mrs Korovavala said there was anxiety amongst the tourism players for more loss in revenue with all five-star hotels in Nadi were affected the most, saying, “Last week a prominent hotel in Nadi revealed that it lost around $1million when tourists cancelled their advanced bookings until next year”. “The cancellation of bookings is huge and since the impasse started, the hotels have experienced booking cancellations and now most of our members do not have bookings until next year”
“For 2007, most hotels have no bookings while some confirmed bookings for next year have been cancelled.”
She said the industry heavily relied on the country’s reputation and hoteliers, according are mapping out a strategy to review the situation and with no solution in sight, hoteliers could only hope for some good sense to prevail.
She said tourists wouldn’t go to any destination where their safety was compromised and while safety in hotels was a priority, the tourists would not risk coming to a country riddled with political instability.
“If they do not reach a solution quickly, the tourism industry will suffer the most, at the moment we are suffering”.
Outrigger on the Lagoon Resort GM Paul Hughes said: “The longer it goes, the longer it affects tourism,” and Shangri-La’s Fijian Resort on the Coral Coast, says no new reservations have been made until April next year, with Director Sales and Marketing Peter Donlevy saying they lost about 5% of bookings in November and 3% in December with no new bookings for the period from November 2006 until April 2007.
He said this month’s occupancy rate was only 61%, adding, “We have lost hundreds of guests and we are offering special deals to our primary markets of Australia and New Zealand”.
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Report by The Mole.
John Alwyn-Jones
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