SUVA, June 15 (Xinhua) -- Fijians have now been encouraged to experience local tourism products as part of the Fijian government's efforts to cope with the impact of COVID-19.
Tourism Fiji's CEO Matthew Stoeckel said on Monday that with the recently-launched "Love Our Locals Fiji" campaign, this is the first time Tourism Fiji is taking a domestic tourism initiative and its primary role is to encourage Fijians to experience the nation's tourism products.
The campaign has another goal that is to work with the operators to develop local family packages and products that encourage those that are able to stay in operation through this time to look at how they can best cater for the local market, he said, adding that there are more than 70 operators that have come onboard with this campaign and are giving special deals for locals.
They will initially be running this campaign for 12 months and are hoping to continue after their international visitors return.
Early this month, Fiji launched the "Love Our Locals Fiji" campaign, which was championed by Tourism Fiji with the full support of the Ministry of Commerce, Trade, Tourism and Transport. It embraces the spirit of love through action in the face of an industry and Fijians that are hurting.
It takes inspiration from Fijian Prime Minister Voreqe Bainimarama's call to action over one year ago and asks Fijians to rally behind local restaurants, tour operators and hotels to show support for Fiji by supporting Fijian-Made products and holidaying here at home.
As the backbone of the Fijian economy, tourism is the most important industry which is the biggest foreign exchange earner.
Fourty percent of Fiji's Gross Domestic Product (GDP) is dependent on tourism which employs around 150,000 people directly and indirectly.
The island nation has in recent years received more than 800,000 visitors per year. The Fijian government had also set a goal of developing the tourism industry to a 2.2 billion Fijian dollars (about 1 billion U.S. dollar) industry by 2021.
The COVID-19 has serious impact on Fiji's tourism, and with travel restrictions to stop the spread of the deadly virus, the industry, which has already laid off about 40,000 people, has been at a standstill for three months now.
According to the Fiji Bureau of Statistics on Monday, provisional numbers show that Fiji's visitor arrivals for May this year totaled 709 compared to 73,169 for May 2019. Of the 709 visitors, 15 came by air while 694 came by sea. Enditem
