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Fiji Tourism Update

© Larry Low

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In 1972,when Fiji's first comprehensive tourism plan was being drafted, there was speculation that the first five year goal of 50,000 annual visitors was a bit far fetched. For those of us who contributed to the plan, it seemed like an impossible goal although we were confident that given enough time the total would be easily surpassed. However, we badly under estimated the potential. Last week, Bill Gavoka of the Fiji Visitors Bureau indicated that the total visitor count for 2004 is expected to exceed 470,000(Source: Fiji Times 23/07/2004).

Fiji tourism got its start in the 1950s when piston engined aircraft flying the Sydney - Honolulu leg stopped in Nadi to refuel. The first hotel near Nadi Airport was a World War II quonset hut. The number of visitors was small but there was recognition that Fiji was made for tourism. It wasn't long before outsiders recognized the potential.

Paddy Doyle, builder of the Fijian Hotel, now the Fijian Shangrila,arrived in Fiji just ahead of the jet age. He was responsible for the extension of the main runway to accommodate jet aircraft. In the ensuing years, there were several other talented and prosperous individuals who fell in love with Fiji. Raymond Burr bought Naitauba Island,/naitaumba / a 3,500 acre copra plantation on the eastern most edge of Fiji and did much to prepare the local residents to participate in Fiji's tourism development. He paid the shot for twelve Naitaubans to attend hotel school in Los Angeles. Burr also began an orchid exporting business near Nadi Airport, which helped put Fiji on the map and bring in badly needed foreign exchange.

Other entrepreneurs include Jay Johnson,the developer of the fibreglass injection molding process, who developed Kaibu Island /kaimbu / into a small ultra luxury resort. Other notables include Malcolm Forbes and John MacIntire, one of the world's foremost land planning engineers, who bought a 3,800 plantation on Taveuni and started what has become Taveuni Estates,a residential community, which is unique among all the islands of the Pacific.

Over the past few years, Fiji the Fiji tourism plant has been growing steadily with no end in sight. The tourism industry currently accounts for 24 percent of Gross Domestic Product and 27 per cent of employment. At present there are five major hotel projects underway at an estimated cost of $375 million Fiji dollars.(US$210 million). There are also several smaller projects on Fijian owned land in the Yaswawa Islands that lie northwest of Nadi and in other areas in Fiji. There is an urgent need for additional accommodation.