Tourism Framework to provide grounding to develop and benefit from our natural resources - Rabuka

The Fiji National Sustainable Tourism Framework will provide a good grounding for our people to develop and benefit from our natural resources.

Prime Minister, Sitiveni Rabuka highlighted this while launching the framework at the Novotel Hotel in Lami last night.

He says this this framework articulates the strategic direction of the tourism sector over the next 10 years in Fiji.

Rabuka says this will require the development of robust policies to provide a conducive environment for tourism growth and open up opportunities to attract visitors to our shores.

He says the Cabinet approved the framework on the 8th of May this year as a plan for leadership.

He adds we cannot solely rely on only one sector.

Deputy Prime Minister and Minister for Tourism, Viliame Gavoka says one of the underlying considerations of this framework is to understand what we want the future of tourism to be.

Gavoka says last year, not only did we break visitor arrivals record, but the tourism sector contributed an estimated $3.2 billion to the Fijian economy.

He says last month, we received 82,901 visitors which was a record showing a significant increase of 10.3 percent compared to a year earlier, with an increase of 7.3 percent compared to April 2023.

The Deputy Prime Minister says we broke records with key markets, our national airline opened new routes, hotels reported near full occupancy, investments are breaking ground and this is why we need to nurture the industry to its full potential so that we, and the generation to come, reap its benefits.

Meanwhile, the theme for this year is Navigating Towards Fiji’s Sustainable Tourism Future.