SUVA, Aug. 10 (Xinhua) -- Some Fijian hotels are expected to lay off more workers in the coming weeks due to lack of tourism business.
The Marriott Resort on Momi Bay and the Westin and Sheraton Resorts on Denarau Island in Nadi, the third largest city on the western side of Viti Levu, Fiji's main island, are expected to make more than 900 workers redundant by the end of August.
This has been confirmed by Fiji's National Union of Hotel and Catering Employees General Secretary Daniel Urai on Monday. He said the resorts have been in constant discussions with the union regarding the future of the workers for some time now.
Urai said the resorts have proposed to them that they are only looking to retain a handful of workers who will be responsible for mending and carrying out maintenance on the properties during temporary closure.
He said the redundant workers will be given a redundancy package which is a week's pay for each year of service they had served.
The resorts had earlier said that they have experienced a significant drop in demand which is likely to continue for an uncertain duration as the prior levels of hospitality activities in Fiji is not expected to return until beyond 2021 following the implications of COVID-19.
They said that the resorts will reopen for hiring once business picks up and the opportunity presents itself. For now borders are closed and Fiji is just opening up for business in most hotels for locals. Fiji depends heavily on its tourism market as a main money earner for the island nation and is eager to restart the travel bubble between neighboring countries Australia and New Zealand as soon as that is possible. Enditem
