Board Directors of Tourism Fiji,
Permanent Secretary for Commerce, Trade, Tourism and Transport,
CEO Tourism Fiji and team,
Tourism Industry Colleagues,
Ladies and Gentlemen,
Bula Vinaka!
It’s my pleasure to be here today to address you all this morning.
I know it’s not often we get to speak to each other but at every opportunity we do get — we make our best endeavour to keep our communication going. So thank you, Tourism Fiji, for organising today’s webinar.
Ladies and Gentlemen,
We have spent well over a year now in what has been the most challenging time of our lives. While we have seen other sectors of the economy gradually resuming, travel and tourism is essentially still on hold.
So today, I don’t want to talk about the obvious. Today, I want to share with you our re-opening plans and assure you, we are doing everything possible to give you support, and more importantly hope.
I’m sure you will all join me in congratulating the work that the Ministry of Health and Medical Services have undertaken on our vaccination roll out.
Today, we stand at around 96 percent of eligible Fijians having had their first jab and 47 percent fully vaccinated. I think we can all agree this is a phenomenal effort and could not have happened so efficiently without your support.
We’ve been delighted to see Tourism businesses transform themselves into vaccination hubs, providing vehicles and vessels to transport vaccines and frontline staff to some of the most remote areas, and the continued advocacy on the importance of vaccination.
So, a big Vinaka Vakalevu to you, for being leaders and helping us get where we need to be — 80 percent of the eligible population vaccinated.
Ladies and Gentlemen,
As you all know, we are collectively working towards a November re-opening. To make that happen, we have to keep momentum, achieve 80 percent of the targeted population fully vaccinated and reduce our community transmission.
I know the big question on everyone’s mind is when a formal re-opening announcement will be made. I know this is important to help you solidify your plans for re-opening.
At this stage, we are working very hard behind the scenes on finalising the re-opening framework. This framework, which outlines the entry requirements, has two goals. One, to minimise risks and keep both tourists and Fijians safe. Second, ease restrictions to maintain competitiveness.
We are looking at medical and digital infrastructure, looking at the market agility. This means having to consider frequency and platforms of testing for visitors, determining which markets to accept on what conditions, setting up vaccine passports and mutual recognition, creating a seamless travel authorisation portal, determining where tourists go in Fiji. There are a whole host of factors which I’m sure you would have views on today.
It’s an incredibly important piece of work and one that is being worked on collectively with the key Government stakeholders such as the Ministry of Commerce, Trade, Tourism and Transport (MCTTT), Ministry of Health and Medical Services, Tourism Fiji, Fiji Airways and the Tourism Recovery Team (which has representatives from the tourism industry).
As soon as it’s finalised, we will be sharing with you, so you can also put your re-opening plans to motion. So please take comfort in knowing that safely re-opening the borders is our utmost priority.
Ladies and Gentlemen,
While our vaccination numbers continue to bring us closer to re-opening, there remains a fundamental need to work together to reduce our COVID positivity rate.
We have seen a surge in cases and deaths in the Western division which needs to be controlled. We can achieve this if we all do our part by inculcating a certain degree of COVID-safe mannerism amongst ourselves, our staff, and our customers.
So we don’t only depend on our national vaccination targets, but maintaining a culture of COVID safe practice. Last month in Parliament I spoke about how vaccines and COVID safe precautions act as roadblocks for the virus and reduce the spread.
The basic measures of wearing face covering, maintaining 2 metres physical distance, frequent hand washing — are all part of this new culture that we need to live by every day. Contact tracing will always remain an integral part of business. We need to see the careFIJI app as a longer term investment for when our case numbers have reduced and we shift our strategy from mitigation to containment once again.
With COVID-safe behaviour, we will reduce our community transmission and give confidence that Fiji is a safe holiday destination and will not be a source of cases in their respective countries. I am confident with all our collective effort we will achieve the desired outcomes and create a safe environment to welcome back tourists.
Ladies and Gentlemen,
Last week, Tourism Fiji launched an initiative that calls on tourism businesses to do their part in sharing the importance of vaccination – vaccination truly is “our Best Shot at Travel”.
So please, keep sharing that message and encouraging Fijians to get vaccinated. In doing so, you are also telling the world that Fiji is getting ready to welcome them back.
We know it will take time to get staff back to work, ensure maintenance is up to date, get staff trained and get all health and safety standards up and running. This is no small feat, and we are here to support. That’s where our Care Fiji Commitment programme helps to guide you so you are ready to meet the expectations of international visitors when we re-open.
Ladies and Gentlemen,
Today I am joined by the Permanent Secretary and officials of MCTTT. We are here to listen to your views and answer any questions you may have.
We’re getting closer every day to that moment when we can welcome back visitors and I’m sure you share my excitement. We simply can’t wait to welcome people back and get our tourism industry up and running once again.
Vinaka Vakalevu.