Fiji looks to capitalise on Maldives faux pas, lure Indian tourists to archipelago

Hyderabad: Fiji, an archipelago of 300 islands in the South Pacific Ocean, is all set to launch a marketing blitzkrieg to attract Indians to its pristine islands, as swelling ranks of financially well-to-do Indians look at overseas destinations for holidaying.

“Tourism was badly hit by the Covid-19 pandemic. However, last year, we recovered and posted growth over the pre-Covid year of 2019. Pick-up in tourism has been quite phenomenal.

Sixty per cent of our tourists come from Australia and New Zealand. We have been trying to broaden our market base. So, Americans and Chinese are also coming in.

As Asia is the region of the future, we want to see an increase in Indian tourists to Fiji,” Viliame R. Gavoka, Deputy Prime Minister and minister for tourism and civil aviation in Fiji told this newspaper on Thursday.

Gavoka is in India on an invitation from the Indian government to attend the Wings India 2024, a biennial civil aviation show being held at the Begumpet Airport.

To attract more Indians, Gavoka said his country needed to enhance its profile in India. “We have some plans in place to enhance the profile of our country as a tourist destination for Indians. Indians will love our country,” he said.

The South Pacific nation, which has a large section of people of Indian origin, is also planning to build a dedicated self-contained aero city closer to its airport.

The Fiji Deputy Prime Minister, who appeared impressed with the concept of public-private partnership in India, appeared interested in emulating a similar set-up to redevelop civil aviation in his country.

“As the population in the developed world, which contributes most tourists to Fiji, begins to age, Fiji is looking at building world-class hospitals which gives confidence to its tourists as well as allows his country to earn money through medical tourism,” he said.

“In Australia, for example, you have more people who are aged 60 years or more than young. Japan is going that way. So does the USA. The aged tourists are going to be a huge market. They want to come to Fiji, but they want better medical facilities. A lot of hospitals are already being built… India has a lot to offer us in this area,” he said, adding that his government can consider offering incentives to attract new companies in this space.

A representative from Fiji has spoken to some established healthcare companies in India for collaboration in the healthcare sector. Fiji is also looking to India to help set up pharma companies that could serve the needs of 16 countries in the south-Pacific region that faced acute drug shortages during the Covid-19 pandemic.

“As I am in Hyderabad, the pharma capital of India, I want to invite Indian pharma companies to invest in Fiji and the government is willing to offer its support,” he said. As drug-making is a specialised area, Gavoka said the Fiji government understood that it needed to allow companies to bring in their own people initially. Gavoka said he would begin the process of finalising the policy once he returned home.

The South Pacific nation, which swears by rugby, may also look at promoting cricket more seriously in an attempt to attract more Indian tourists to the island nation. In 2022-23, Fiji cricket stood second in the Group A ICC T20 World Cup East Asia-Pacific Qualifier.

According to a Fiji official, the Indian High Commissioner to Fiji had distributed cricket equipment to high school students in his country.