Fiji set for record breaking 2010 – NTO sets its sights on 270,000 Australian visitors
Download this page in PDF formatConcluding what Tourism Fiji Regional Director Australia Paresh Pant describes as one of Fiji’s toughest years on record, the South Pacific destination’s has bid farewell to 2009 and welcomed in the New year on the back of several record breaking performances from the Australian market.
Figures released in early January 2010 show Fiji attracted a total of 27,531 Australians in October 2009, that figure eclipsing the previous record set in September 2009 – 26,342 – by 1189 with the new record following hot on the heels of similar records set in July and August.
The October 2009 result brought Fiji’s Australian visitor tally for the year to 189,603, just 2.3 per cent down on the 194,063 figure achieved for the January – October period in the record breaking 2008.
But it would appear, based on the January 2010,visitor arrival figures that Fiji is well on track to achieving its targets this year.
Fiji has in fact kicked off 2010 with an unprecedented 65.2 per cent jumped in Australian visitor arrivals – the best figures the destination has ever seen from this market.
Figures released this week by Tourism Fiji for January 2010 show the destination attracted a total of 21,586 Australians, a 65.2 per cent jump over the 13,070 visitor arrivals recorded for the same period in 2009
The result is a huge cry from the massive drop the destination experienced from Australia in January 2009 following heavy flooding, the natural disaster seen as a catalyst for a more than 27 per cent drop in Australian business .
A beaming Tourism Fiji regional director Australia Paresh Pant said while industry sales figures indicated Fiji business was booming from this market, the January 2010 result was far and away much higher than he had anticipated.
“In 12 months we have gone from one extreme to another. Last year we posted our worse ever figures for a January period in recent times – today we are posting our best ever,” he said.
“In the face of everything that has come our way in 2009, from floods and political stand offs between the Fiji and Australian governments and not forgetting the GFC, our Australian visitor arrivals figures have continued to build exponentially and are a huge cry from the huge drop we recorded in the first three months of this year,” he said.
Mr Pant also pointed towards the developments in 2009 which have seen Pacific Blue commence direct services ex-Melbourne and for the first time, a dedicated Adelaide-Nadi service and the early December start up of new V-Australia flights in mid-December.
These services had have marked effect on our numbers from Victoria, South Australia and New South Wales”, he said.
And we are also obviously very excited about the commencement of the new Jetstar services at the end of March this year.
Mr Pant also praised the NTO’s industry partners for their continuing support for Fiji.
‘We recognise the efforts our industry colleagues have gone to in order to keep Fiji top of mind with the Australian travelling public,” he said.
Those efforts include the roll out of several high profile TV and print campaigns, one of the most successful being the AUD1 million March national ‘Stimulus’ advertising campaign.
This Mr Pant said had proven a resounding success with tour wholesalers collectively reporting an up to 75 per cent increase in their week on week Fiji business during the campaign’s three week run.
Released in conjunction with many of Fiji’s hotel and resorts, the AUD1 million dollar TV and consumer print campaign revolved around the release of a series of specially-priced, all-inclusive Fiji packages.
“In essence the consumer element of the campaign was designed to draw attention to the incredible value Fiji currently offers to Australian travellers and as a result, encourage even more Australians into visiting,” he said.
“As importantly it was also intended to drive business directly into travel agencies and towards our wholesale partners across Australia,” he said.
“To say the campaign was a success would be an understatement.
Mr Pant said similar activity was already planned for 2010, pre-empted by a national TVC in January.
“The plan is to work even more closely with our industry colleagues in 2010 combining resources with them as part of an ongoing roll out of strategic marketing campaigns designed to capitalise on the re-generated interest we have enjoyed in the Australian market in recent months and further positioning Fiji’ as a value prospect in this market,“ he said.
In terms of promoting the destination, Mr Pant said while emphasis would still be placed on showcasing Fiji’s traditional favourites – Nadi, Denarau, the Coral Coast, the Mamanuca and Yasawa Islands, the fact that more and more Australians were travelling further afield within the destination would play a part in overall promotion al activity.
“Savusavu in the north is proving as popular as ever and interest in Taveuni, the Garden Island, and some of our lesser known regions including Kadavu and Levuka and Vanua Levu, continues to build,” he said.
Ädd to that, the myriad resorts and hideaways dotting the eastern shoreline of Viti Levu, especially the Rakiraki area, offer huge appeal and we are also seeing a big return of interest in our capital, Suva – particularly for those looking for a cultural day tour experience while staying on the Coral Coast and those using the city as a gateway to other parts of Fiji.”
Accor recently opened a Novotel in the Suva area, situated overlooking the Bay Of Islands, a short minute drive from the Fijian capital, Suva
Many of the larger cruise ships including Fiji in their itineraries make a point of featuring Suva as a port of call with more than 50 already confirmed throughout 2010.
In terms of market segments, Mr Pant said the romantic travel market continues to represent Fiji’s biggest ‘special interest’ sector.
The MICE sector too, he said, has stayed reasonably steady thanks in the main to some very canny marketing and pricing initiatives which had continued to underline position Fiji very much from the perspective of value.
“Our MICE market continues to develop and while in the past Denerau, Nadi and the Coral Coast have enjoyed the lion’s share of this market segment, recent developments in Suva and the Mamanuca Islands mean convention and group organisers now have even more choice.
“The recently opened Novotel Suva Lami Bay caters up to 800 convention delegates while in the Mamanucas, Plantation Island Resort has started taking bookings for its new state of the art Convention Centre which officially opened for business on 01 November 2009.
The new Convention Centre, he said, offered an island MICE destination with a difference and provides an ideal alternative for Fiji-bound group and conference MICE traffic looking for an alternative to the Denarau resort area, Nadi and the Coral Coast.
The recently opened InterContinental Golf Resort & Spa at Natadola has also proved a popular venue for several major events throughout the year including Tourism Fiji’s recent Fiji industry day seminars in early December.
“The new fully serviced V-Australia flights as well as service upgrades on Air Pacific will hold huge appeal to this sector,” he said.
“But the areas where we have seen the biggest developments and growth are the flash packer and soft adventure markets.
Fiji is in perfectly position to attract the flash packers, we offer a huge range of accommodation designed to really cater to this key market segment.
“2009 also saw the advent of the first ‘schoolies’ packages in Fiji which have caught the attention and been the catalyst for a whole new generation of Australians visiting our islands.
“Perhaps the biggest growth has been in the soft adventure sector – we are now truly established as the ‘soft adventure capital of the South Pacific offering a huge array of adventure sports. These range from diving and surfing to jet boating, white-water rafting, Zip Lining, 4WD trekking and hot air ballooning to name just a few of the many exciting options now on offer in Fiji.’
Many of these activities, he said, are located on the Coral Coast and one of the more popular venues where many of these can be experienced is the recently opened Uprising Resort located close to another popular Coral Coast venue, the Pearl South Pacific Resort.
Mr Pant said despite the many changes taking place within the destination one thing would never change- and that was the Fijian people.
“The Fijian people are the destination’s foremost selling point and the main reason Australians keep returning to Fiji year after year.
“The people and their ‘Bula Spirit’ remain one of Fiji’s most endearing qualities.
“’Bula’ is a unique concept, it can’t be faxed or emailed or sent by messenger. ‘Bula’ can only be experienced from hand to hand, eye to eye, heart to heart, ‘Bula to Bula’ – and only in Fiji.
It is what sets us apart from the rest of the world.”
