Tourism Fiji snubs the country’s tourism exchange
Tourism Fiji has turned its back on the country’s high-profile travel show – Bula.
It cites the presence in the Bula Fiji Tourism Exchange (BFTE) of competing Pacific island nations.
Rick Hamilton, CEO of Tourism Fiji, said it is the view of the organisation that it cannot support BFTE in its current format where competing Pacific Islands are invited to participate to showcase their offering, conduct contract talks, network and try to win business against Fiji.
"The role of Tourism Fiji is to support tourism in Fiji globally and we go to great lengths to achieve this, with a focus on building tourism visitations and achieving a strong return on our investment on behalf of our government and the community," Hamilton said.
"Most of these other island nations have their own shows where they can promote themselves and we believe Fiji is in a strong position to stand alone at its own dedicated event."
Hamilton said that resorts from all over Fiji attend BFTE each year.
"It is their opportunity to network with buyers from around the world.
"We believe it is difficult enough to win business with local competition, let alone have to compete in this forum against the rest of the South Pacific in their own country."
BFTE 2013 will be held May15-17 at the InterContinental Hotel Fiji.
Ian Jarrett
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