Prime Minister, Voreqe Bainimarama has attributed the success of the Tourism Industry to the people, organisations and businesses that work tirelessly every day to the promote Fiji as a tourist destination.
Speaking at the Excellence in Tourism awards, Bainimarama said Fiji’s Tourism industry is making a huge contribution to the Fijian economy, earning us a substantial income as a nation, and enhancing our reputation for excellence and consistency in the world.
Bainimarama highlighted that the total earnings from the Tourism Industry increased from $1.31 billion in 2013 to $1.39 billion last year.
He said this represents 33 percent of our Gross Domestic Product, which means that one third of the Fijian economy is generated by tourism activity.
He said it is also employing about 13 percent of the total work force.
Bainimarama highlighted that last year Fiji had a total of 692,000 international visitor arrivals.
He said that 349,000 visitors were from Australia, 124,000 visitors from New Zealand, 6,000 visitors from America and 2,000 from Europe.
He added that there has also been an increase in visitor arrivals from the Chinese market.
He said that last year, we had 28,000 Chinese visitors which was an increase of 5,000 from 2013.
Bainimarama said we should increase our efforts to attract the Chinese market as China is where the growth for the Tourism industry is coming from.
The Prime Minister highlighted that government is working with Fiji Airways to launch a permanent route to one of the mainland Chinese cities and to Singapore.
He also revealed that last year Canada, the United Kingdom and Japan fell in the visitors’ table and that there has been a steady growth in the Indian market.
He said government will continue to acknowledge and reward those individuals in the industry who make a special effort to welcome our guests and are shining examples of genuine Fijian hospitality for the whole industry.
Meanwhile, Joji Veiqaravi who works at the Nadi Airport was named the 2014 Fijian Host of Year.
Dilip Khartri was given the Visionary award while Dixon Seeto was presented Lifetime Achiever award.
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