Fiji Is Open For Happiness

Tourism Fiji’s CEO Brent Hill believes the pandemic has reignited the value of the travel trade across a generation of travellers who were used to booking directly.

“Back in 2018 I saw some of that diminishing a little bit — everyone was going online, very digital focused, it was like: we can do all this ourselves,” he tells Canadian Travel Press during a one-on-one interview. “And then along comes COVID and as you come out of that I think people need even more reassurance and advice. Even though our protocols are dead simple in coming into Fiji people still want to want to check with someone.”

On location in in Denarau for the Fijian Tourism Expo 2022, Hill shared how he sees agents being pivotal to promoting identities across the islands of Fiji similar to how Hawaii has established a strong sense of identity across each of its islands.

“I think the role of the trade is even more important to provide the expertise. For us to win, for us to achieve what we want to achieve, we need to spread people out across Fiji,” he said. “Now when people go to Hawaii, it’s like, which island did you stay on? And I’d love for that to be the question with Fiji — which island do to stay on?”

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