Fiji Visitors Bureau says marketing drives tourism
The Fiji Visitors Bureau is increasing its pressure on the Government to secure further tourism marketing funding for Fiji saying that Fiji must realise that marketing is the fuel that drives the tourism engine.
The comments came after the Australian Government announced it would invest $193.3million in tourism over the next four years, with FVB CEO Bill Gavoka saying that the Australian Government kept increasing funds for marketing while Fiji kept reducing it, adding, “I just wish our government would borrow a leaf from Australia on how they support the marketing of their tourism.” “There is the commitment of resources commensurate with the potential of the industry that makes Australian tourism so vibrant.”
He added, “Again we say, it’s not taxpayers’ funds we want, it’s that special tax collected by the hotels from their guests meant for the FVB, but kept by government.”
Fiji Islands Hotel and Tourism Association President Dixon Seeto said the association agreed with Mr Gavoka’s comments, saying, the industry had contributed a lot in terms of tax in Fiji, with the hotel tax bringing in over $20million a year.
He added that the departure tax of $40 per person would generate a further approximately about $20 million and that the industry has said it needs more funds to return to the position it enjoyed before the December 5 takeover and even though the interim administration allocated $10 million for the Tourism Action Group and the FVB’s operational costs, more funds were needed for aggressive marketing campaigns throughout the year.
Last week, Bill Gavoka told The Mole that the FVB is approach the interim Government for extra funding, adding that many figures being reported in the media about visitor numbers were no longer valid and did not reflect the state of the industry.
“It is very difficult to make forecasts as the situation keeps changing and the confidence in Fiji is still very low from our source markets,” said Mr Gavoka, adding, “What we do know is that the industry is far from normal.”
Critics of FVB’s initial recovery marketing and advertising campaign have said that the funds spent were largely ineffective and Mr Gavoka himself admitted in the media earlier this year that the initial recovery campaign had been a failure, although he denied to The Mole last week that he had said it had been.
At last week’s BFTE, Fiji’s Tourism Minister Bernadette Ganilau was very upbeat about the future of tourism in Fiji stressing that she would be fighting for more funding from the Interim Government and that inviting the Interim Prime Minister to BFTE had been really beneficial.
Special Fiji Report by The Mole on location in Fiji and with material from BFTE and the Fiji Times.
John Alwyn-Jones
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