High Commissioner of Australia to Fiji, His Excellency, John Feakes,
Department of Foreign Affairs and Trade, Australia,
CSV Hub Pacific,
Australian Volunteers International (AVI) Representatives,
Industry Stakeholders,
Members of the Media,
Invited Guest,
Ladies and Gentleman,
Bula Vinaka and a very warm welcome to you all.
It is my pleasure to officiate the opening of the Tourism Stakeholders Workshop, in partnership with the Australian Volunteers International’s (AVI) Child Safe Volunteering (CSV) Hub Pacific.
“The tourism industry is a leading global force for positive change”. We all are aware that the impact of COVID-19 has hit the tourism sector immensely across the globe and Fiji is not an exception.
Ladies and Gentlemen,
The Fijian Government, in partnership with key industry stakeholders, including a lot of you here today, have been working collaboratively to mitigate the impacts of COVID-19 on the Tourism Industry.
Just last week, we launched the Care Fiji Commitment programme– an important initiative that will ensure an aligned communication platform for how we communicate and demonstrate health and safety credentials and COVID-19 management to our visitors. What it essentially does is, it reassures travellers that Fiji is a safe destination to visit and in turn, asks potential visitors to share the responsibility to keep Fiji and Fijians safe when holidaying here.
Without compromise to our hospitality, it is, commitment of this caliber we want to foster today. Except, it is a commitment to the safety and wellbeing of our children.
Ladies and Gentlemen,
While this is a down-time for the tourism industry, let’s not forget our shared responsibility of ensuring that we do not leave anyone behind in the work that we do. Our priorities may have shifted – but we must not lose sight of matters that contribute to the foundation of the Fijian tourism industry.
Safety from a health perspective is paramount and will be for the foreseeable future. But so will socio-economic safety and security.
Ladies and Gentlemen,
Fiji has long been recognised as a safe family friendly destination. And this is something we greatly pride ourselves in. Findings from the 2019 International Visitor Survey revealed that “It’s a family friendly destination” and “The local people are friendly” are the top two influencing factors for visiting Fiji. Not only is it our friendliness, but our reputation as a safe destination with visitors noting an 86 percent satisfaction rating, for “feeling safe and secure while in Fiji”.
Now to maintain the recognition as a family friendly destination doesn’t only mean caring for others. It also means carrying for our own. We must extend this duty of care to our children, especially those in communities who are in one way or another involved in the industry.
Children living in tourist areas are especially vulnerable to physical, emotional and sexual abuse. I want to stress that while we do not see child safety as a major industry challenge, it is never too early or irrelevant to start the conversation.
How can, you as businesses ensure safe tourism practices are in place? What duty of care do we have to community members and children when we take visitors into communities? How do we create more dialogue with grassroot leaders?
Ladies and Gentlemen,
The Fijian Constitution clearly outlines the rights of children – “to be protected from abuse, neglect, harmful cultural practices, any form of violence, inhumane treatment and punishment, and hazardous or exploitative labour”. We are fully committed to making sure that children have the support they need to feel secure at all times.
The Tourism industry has huge potential to positively impact children’s rights. So— we must make a concerted effort to safeguard their wellbeing across all interactions in the tourism value chain.
The collaboration we see today between the CSV Hub Pacific and the Ministry of Commerce, Trade, Tourism and Transport (Ministry) in holding this one-day workshop is the beginning of more conversation, and more work. It will greatly benefit the tourism sector in enhancing their knowledge and capacity not only towards keeping children safe in the tourism sector but to “Do no Harm” in the communities through responsible Tourism.
Responsible Tourism is about respecting human dignity, equality and safety, and that everyone enjoys meeting and learning across different countries and cultures in a positive way.
Ladies and Gentlemen,
Children rely on us as adults, to keep them safe from harm’s way. In fact, it is one of the greatest responsibilities we have as parents. No matter where we are, we carry this responsibility with us.
To achieve the potential of the sector, a concerted effort by industry bodies and businesses is needed to understand how children are affected – positively and negatively – by their operations and value chains. Sometimes it is out of sheer ignorance that we fail to fully understand the consequences of things we do on children.
Child safe tourism is about being proactive and preventative – to promote tourism practices and activities that are positive for communities and respect the rights of children. It is about putting in place the relevant measures that ensure tourism activities and practices are to keep children safe. Today’s workshop will help enhance your knowledge and capacity towards keeping children safe in the tourism sector.
Ladies and Gentleman,
On behalf of the Ministry, I would like to acknowledge the continuous support of the Department of Foreign Affairs and Trade (DFAT) Australia, who have been a diplomatic partner to AVI for a long time.
I also take this opportunity to acknowledge and thank AVI, and the CSV Pacific for being instrumental partners in this project.
The Ministry will continue to strengthen this partnership with its full support towards making an impact on communities with a vision to improve Tourism best practices.
To everyone here today, I encourage your full participation and commitment. You are the ultimate implementers and our greatest partners.
With those few words, I officially declare this workshop open.
Vinaka Vakalevu, Thank you!