A man has been charged with the rape and sexual assault of one of the Virgin Australia crew members in the early hours of New Year’s Day, near a nightclub in Martintar, Nadi.

Police confirm he has been charged with one count of sexual assault and one count of rape.

They say he is in custody and will appear in the Nadi Magistrates Court on Monday.

Police have yet to charge anyone in relation to the robbery of another crew member.

Meanwhile, the crew members have now returned to Australia.

A female crew member, who was allegedly sexually assaulted near the club, flew back to Australia yesterday while her male colleague returned on Thursday after receiving treatment for facial wounds.

Five other crew members remained in Fiji to assist the investigation, staying close to their hotel as directed by their airline’s headquarters.

Deputy Prime Minister and Minister for Tourism Viliame Gavoka said in an earlier statement that regrettably incidents like this could happen anywhere and Fiji was not immune.

He reminded tourists to exercise caution in nightclub areas and late at night.

Republished from Fijivillage News with permission.

Article by AsiaPacificReport.nz

A year after re-opening its borders, Fiji has recorded an injection of F$805 million into its economy from international visitor arrivals between April and August.

After shutting its borders for almost two years at the height of the covid-19 pandemic, Fiji has welcomed 520,000 tourists to its shores in the past 12 months.

Tourism Fiji chief executive Brent Hill said the steady increase in international visitors is promising for an economy where tourism is its largest asset, previously accounting for 40 percent of the country’s GDP.

“It’s been wonderful to welcome back international visitors for the last 12 months and to see a steady increase in numbers as the world gets used to travelling again.

“The recovery trajectory for visitor arrivals has exceeded our expectations, and the impact can be seen in our economy with tourists buzzing in resorts, towns, and villages as people experience the true Fiji,” Hill said.

Success in structure
Last year, Fiji was one of few Pacific nations to open its doors to tourists with minimal restrictions. What may have seemed like a bold decision at the height of the pandemic has today paid off for a nation that heavily relies on tourism as its highest income earner.

The successful rebound is attributed to the covid-safe measures implemented by the industry prioritising vaccination and the Care Fiji Commitment programme, Tourism Fiji’s New Zealand regional director Sonya Lawson said.

Lawson said while tourists were eager to travel again, security and well-being remained a priority for travellers.

“The programme implemented by Tourism Fiji was a standard of best practice protocols and standards, and certified tourism operators as having rigorous measures in place to manage covid-19 was reassuring,” she said.

“This really provided confidence to travellers, tourism provider providers and locals alike, and that was a key factor in the initial stages, and from there, the confidence has just continued.”

New Zealanders flocking to Fiji
Tourism Fiji said bookings from New Zealand in October this year exceeded pre-pandemic levels at 103 percent of the same period in 2019.

July welcomed over 25,000 New Zealanders which is 91 percent of 2019 levels; in August, that hit 87 percent, and September achieved 95 percent before exceeding Kiwi visitor numbers by October.

Hill said similar to New Zealanders, the resilience of the Fijian people, hospitality, and a commitment to welcoming back visitors is why Fiji has been successful in standing out as a destination.

“We look forward to a bigger and better 2023 focusing on sustainable, authentic tourism.”

New Zealand is Fiji’s second largest international visitor market, now accounting for 26 percent of total visitors – an increase of 3 percent from the 2019 figures.

Lawson added that New Zealand’s visitor arrivals into Fiji had also increased as it previously used to sit at around 23 percent.

There was a 4 percent increase in visitors from Auckland, and 2 percent rises from both Wellington and Christchurch in July this year compared to 2019. This coincided with the phased re-opening of New Zealand borders when Kiwis could travel freely without MIQ.

“Many hotels and resorts have recorded growth in their number of Kiwi visitors — New Zealand is now the second largest market for Six Senses Fiji (resort), having been fourth in previous years,” she added.

New trends for tourists
Leisure and spending also took a turn from pre-pandemic activities. Tourism Fiji recorded tourists travelling around the country with more extended stays.

“For New Zealanders, Denarau, Coral Coast, and Nadi are generally a fan favourite, but we’ve noticed high demands for other regions like the Yasawa Islands and the northern parts of Fiji where there are unique experiences. New Zealanders who have been to Fiji more than once are now discovering other regions to discover,” Lawson said.

“We also previously noticed an average stay of around five nights, but in the last eight months this has increased to around nine nights. We’ve also seen that the spending has increased by an average of 12 percent per day per visitor.

“So we’re putting a lot of this down to the fact that people are embracing travel, have missed the ability to travel, and are taking longer to enjoy a holiday in Fiji.”

Lawson explained that Fiji noticed an increase in ‘multi-generational travel’ where extended families travel together and reconnect in Fiji.

Tourism Fiji has set an ambitious goal of 3 million extra visitor arrivals by 2024, and they believe they are trekking to achieve this target.

“At this stage, Fiji has exceeded all of our expectations for this year, and we’re delighted with how Fiji has resumed and bounced back this year,” said Lawson.

This article is republished under a community partnership agreement with RNZ. 

Article by AsiaPacificReport.nz

Sitiveni Rabuka is infamous for making Fiji a republic after carrying out a military coup 35 years ago by overthrowing an Indo-Fijian dominated government to help maintain indigenous supremacy.

Rabuka has been a central figure in Fijian politics since 1987 — as the nation’s first coup maker, a former prime minister, most recently the leader of opposition, and now a reformed Christian and politician, and the leader of the People’s Alliance Party.

The former military strongman has positioned himself as the chief rival of the country’s incumbent Prime Minister Voreqe Bainimarama — a former military commander and coup leader himself — as Fijians prepare to head to the polls at some stage later this year.

Rabuka, now 73, is on a campaign trail in Aotearoa New Zealand on a mission — to share with the Fijian diaspora how “politics will affect their relatives” back at home and raise funds for his campaign to topple Bainimarama’s FijiFirst government.

In an exclusive interview with RNZ Pacific’s senior journalist Koroi Hawkins, he spoke about his vision for a better Fiji, raising the living standards of the Fijian people, and why he is the man to return the country back to “the way the world should be.”

“I’m here to talk to the supporters who are here,” Rabuka said.

“We do not have a branch in New Zealand so most of our supporters here have not formed themselves into a branch or into a chapter and I’m just out here to talk to them. They’ve been very supportive on this journey and that’s why I’m here.”

Koroi Hawkins: Why is it important to be talking to people outside of Fiji for the elections?

Rabuka: It is very important to speak to the diaspora. Some of them are now [New Zealand] citizens and may not vote. But they have relatives in Fiji and politics will affect their relatives. It is good for them to know how things are, and how things could turn out if we do not have the change that we advocate.

KH: Is there a fundraising aspect to this overseas election campaigning as well?

Rabuka: That is also the case. Fiji is feeling the impacts of covid-19 and also the rising food prices and the reduction of employment opportunities, hours at work and things like that, has reduced our income earning capacities and so many of us have been relying on government handouts, which is not healthy for a nation. We would like to encourage people to find out their own alternative methods of coping with the crisis that we are now facing, health and economic, and also to communicate those back to those at home.

We are also here to thank the people for the remittances of $1.5 billion [that] came into Fiji over the last two years, and a lot of that came from New Zealand, Australia and America. We were grateful to the three governments of the United States of Australia and New Zealand for hosting the diaspora.

KH: One of your strongest campaign messages has been about poverty with estimates around almost 50 percent of Fijians are now living in hardship. How do you propose to deliver on this promise?

Rabuka: Those are universal metres that I applied and for Fiji it can be effectively much lower if we were to revert to our own traditional and customary ways of living. Unfortunately, many of the formerly rural dwellers have moved to the urban centres where you must be earning to be able to maintain a respectable and acceptable way of life and living standards and so on.

Those surveys and the questions were put out to mostly those in the informal settlement areas where the figures are very high. It is true that according to universal metres and measures, yes, we are going through very difficult times. And the only way to do that is to give them opportunities to earn more. Those that are living in the villages now can earn a lot more. Somebody sent out a message this morning, calculating the income per tonne of cassava and dalo; it is way more than what we get from sugar in the international market.

KH: This pandemic, it’s really exposed how dependent Fiji is on tourism. This really hit Fiji hard. What is your economic vision for Fiji?

Rabuka: We just don’t want to be relying totally on one cow providing the milk. We will need to be looking at other areas. We have to diversify our economy to be able to weather these economic storms when they come because we cannot foresee them. But what we can do is have something that can weather whatever happens. Whether it is straightforward health or effects of wars and crises in other parts of the world. Agriculture and fisheries and forestry, when you talk about these things it also reminds us of our responsibilities towards climate change. We have to have sustainable policies to make sure these areas we want to diversify into do not unfairly hurt the areas that we are trying to save and sustainably used when we consider climate change.

KH: Talking about agriculture, the goal seems to be always import substitution and attempts to do that so far have been mild. Even downstream processing also seems problematic. Are there any specific ways you see food for agriculture other than the things that have been tried not just in Fiji, but around the region that are not really taking a hold in a lot of Pacific countries?

Rabuka: I think it is the choices we have made. There is a big opportunity for us to go into downstream processing of our agricultural produce and use those to substitute for the imports we get. If you look at the impact on the grain market in the world as a result of the Ukrainian war. What else can we have in Fiji now or in other countries that can substitute the grain input into the diet. So those are the things that we need really need to be doing now.

There has been a lot of research done at the Koronivia Research Station and they are laying there in files stored away in the libraries and the archives. We need to go back to those and see what has been done. Very interesting story about the former the late president Ratu Sir Penaia Ganilau when he went to Indonesia and he found a very big coconut. He wanted to bring that back to go and plant in Fiji and the people were so embarrassed to tell him that this thing was a result of research carried out in Fiji.

KH: Another big issue is education. We have heard a lot about student loans. You have talked about converting student loans to scholarships and forgiving student debt. Can you maybe speak a little bit more about that that promise? What exactly is that?

Rabuka: We would like to go back to the scholarships concept, enhance the education opportunities for those that are that are capable of furthering the education and also branching out or branching back into what has been dormant for some time now that TVET, technical and vocational education and training. Those are the things that we really need to be doing. Lately, there have been labour movement from Fiji to Australia, New Zealand, for basic agricultural processes of just picking up nuts and fruit and routes.

Those people who are coming out are capable of moving on in education to being engineers and carpenters and block layers and if they had the opportunity to further to go along those streams in in the education system. There is no need for them to be paying. The government really should be taking over those things that we did in the past. We cannot all be lawyers and accountants and auditors and doctors and pilots and so on. But there is so many, the bigger portion of the workforce goes into the practical work that is done daily.

KH: Just going back to the current student debt that is there. Would your policy be to forgive that debt? Or would you still be working out a way to recover it?

Rabuka: That would be part of our manifesto and we are not allowed to announce those areas of our manifesto without giving the financial and budgetary impacts of those.

KH: If you did become prime minister, you would be inheriting a country with the highest debt to GDP ratio that Fiji has ever seen is what the experts are saying. What would be your thoughts coming into that kind of a problematic situation?

Rabuka: We would have to find out how much is owed at the moment and if we were to forgive that, what does forgiving that mean? It means you forego your revenue that you are going to get from these students who are already qualified to do work and for them it means getting reduced salaries when they start working so that they can pay off loans. We have to look at all the combinations and find out which is the most, or the least painful way, of doing it.

It is not their fault. It is what the new government will inherit from the predecessors. Everybody will have to be called upon to tighten their belt, understand the situation, everybody getting a very high per capita burden of the national debt and tell them just how it is. [This is] where we are, this is how we have to get out of it and everybody needs to work together. That is why we need a very popular government. And that is why all the political parties are working very hard to get that support from the people.

KH: Turning to the politics. In 2018, you came within a millimetre of that finish line. Since then, a lot has changed. You ran with the Social Democratic Liberal Party (Sodelpa) at the time. You have now formed your own party, the People’s Alliance. How confident are you about this election race given all those changes?

Rabuka: I think I am confident because there is a universal cry in Fiji for change. The people are looking for their best options on who is to bring the change, what sort of combinations, who are the people behind the brand, people with records in the private sector, also in politics and in the public sector, people who are who are determined to stay on Fiji and do what needs to be done.

There are so many overseas now who love Fiji so much. So many other people who could have been there in Fiji with us running the campaign in order to create a better Fiji, who are overseas. They have not been able to come freely back and with those in mind, we are determined to be the change and bring the change.

KH: One of the things you have talked about is reforming the Fiji Police Force. There has been documented history of problems within the police force. How would you plan to achieve that?

Rabuka: Just bring back the police in Fiji to be the professional body of law enforcement agencies that they had been in the past. We have the capacity, we have the people, we have the natural attributes to be good policemen and women. Get them back to that and avoid the influence of policing in non-democratic societies or the baton charge in every situation, putting it in an extreme term. But that is the sort of thing that we are beginning to see.

We have to reconsider where we send our police officers for training. They must be trained in regimes, in cities, and in countries and governments where we share the same values about law and order, about respecting the rights of citizens, having freedoms. Nobody is punished until they have been through the whole judicial system. You cannot punish somebody when you are arresting them.

KH: There has been a lot of work to try and improve things in policing in the Pacific. But there is a culture that persists, that this history of sort of brutality and “us and them” kind of mentality. How would we get past that in our policing?

Rabuka: We are still coming out of that culture. That was our native culture. We still have to get away from it into modern policing. You look at the way the tribal rules were carried out from that. Somebody’s offended the tribal laws, tribal chiefs, one solution: club them. We have to get away from that. And when we don’t concentrate on moving forward, we very easily fall back.

KH: What [would] a coalition with the National Federation Party look like?

Rabuka: We are going to form a coalition. It will be a two-party government. The Prime Minister is free to pick his ministers from both parties and the best qualified will be picked.

KH: Looking at your own political journey. It started very strongly pro-indigenous Fijian focus. Even with your evolution to your current standing, there are some non-indigenous Fijian voters who are unsure what the future would look like with you as prime minister. What is your message to these people about what Fiji will be like for them and under your prime ministership?

Rabuka: Well, it is like you see the cover of the book and now you are reading the book. I have a dream of what the Pope [John Paul II] saw when he came to Fiji; the way the world should be, a multiracial, vibrant society, where everybody is welcome, where everybody is contributing, everybody is going by their own thing and even unknowingly contributing to a very vibrant economy that will grow and grow and grow so that we are equal partners in the region with Australia, New Zealand, and a very significant part of the global economy.

This article is republished under a community partnership agreement with RNZ.

Article by AsiaPacificReport.nz

Although Fiji was unaffected by the first wave of covid-19, its tourism sector — the lifeblood of the economy — has been devastated by border closure across the world due to the pandemic in the past two years.

Thus, when the Fijian Tourism Expo (FTE) returned after a break of two years, Fiji Tourism’s CEO Brent Hill was in an upbeat mood, especially because they have been able to attract more than 500 participants to the Expo in these competitive times for the travel industry.

But, having experienced the vulnerabilities, sustainability was very much in focus during presentations at the event here.

In 2022, Tourism Fiji comes with a vision to “inspire the world to come and experience Fiji — where happiness finds you” and our purpose is to “ensure that Fiji is promoted and marketed as a tourist destination for the purpose of maximising sustainable and long terms benefits to Fiji”, said Hill, in presenting a brief overview of their past achievements and their two-year strategic plan to the FTE.

The 8th FTE was held on May 11-13 at the luxury Sheraton Beach Golf and Spa Resort near Nadi, the gateway to Fiji where its international airport and many tourist resort islands are located.

The three-day event attracted more than 88 exhibiting companies, 90 buyers and 10 media delegates eager to learn the strategic plan Tourism Fiji has set for the small island nation.

The semi-government agency was supported by Fiji’s Ministry of Commerce, Trade, Tourism and Transport and was declared opened by Minister Faiyaz Koya, who highlighted the negative impact of covid on the tourism industry.

‘Guided by robust policies’
“During this time, we were guided by robust policies that led to our border re-opening,” he said in his opening address.

“Our out-of-work tourism workers were among those supported by half a billion dollars (US$230 million) in direct and indirect assistance paid by the Fijian government. We took the last two years as an opportunity to re-invest.

“From upgrading our tourism facilities and renowned hospitality, to piloting new products.”

Hill’s presentation at the FTE highlighted that during the pre-pandemic period, the tourism sector represented 38 percent of the Fijian economy bringing in 36.5 percent employment making up over 118,000 jobs in a population of just over 896,000.

In 2019, the overseas visitor economy in Fiji was worth F$3 billion (US$1.37 billion) and had attracted 960,000 international arrivals, mainly from Australia, New Zealand, Europe and the United States.

Fast forward two years later into the post-pandemic period, the plan of tourism Fiji is to increase the visitor economy to F$3.37 billion.

Also, a high end goal of attracting 1 million international visitors by 2024 has been set. Hill highlighted that the two year strategic plan, 2022 to 2024, was strategised after consultations were done by meeting with tourism industry and also seeking people’s feedback on what Tourism Fiji’s priorities should be.

Six key priorities
From these consultations, they have pulled out six key priorities for the two year plan.

Sustainability is a key ingredient of the plan that includes shaping perceptions of Fiji, promoting the value of tourism to Fiji and enabling an efficient, high performing and innovative team to take the industry forward.

“For Tourism Fiji, it is very important as an organisation that we set our values. As a team, we really wanted to identify the core of who we are as a true Fijian and I’m very proud of the values that we actually came up with as a team and we want to make a difference,” said Hill.

Citing data from the global benchmarking agency Smith Travel Research (STR), Hill said that in 30 of Fiji’s key hotels that accounts for about 8500 rooms, the occupancy was running at 20 percent levels.

“That is a stunning rebound recovery and not to be sneezed at,” he points out, adding, “I know that there is dozens of tourism organisations around the world that would be begging to have their occupancy at those kinds of levels.”

Many of the exhibition booths at the FTE represented luxury boutique type resorts in small “paradise” islands that surround Fiji’s main islands of Viti Levu and Vanua Levu.

Many of these islands are so small that it may include just the resort which is usually privately owned (leased from traditional land owners).

Resort occupies whole island
One such resort is Beachcomber Island, just 17 km and 40 minutes by fast ferry from Port Denarau, the site of the Expo.

The resort occupies the whole of the privately owned 8 ha island, where staff works on a 21 day shift followed by 7 days leave to go back to “civilisation”. The resort which is very popular with foreign tourists was closed from 20 March 2020 until April 1 this year.

The resort manager, Nemia Merani, that she had to keep a skeleton staff of 5 during this time to help maintain its facilities, even though they had no income coming.

Pre-pandemic they used to employ 50-60 staff but now they only have 15-20 staff on the island.

“People from overseas are still hesitant to come,” she said. “Things that help us are day visitors not only weekends but weekdays too.

“We are selling to locals everyday. During the weekend we have a surge in numbers and after this we go right down again.”

Ironically, this resort was too expensive for local tourists pre-pandemic but the prices have been reduced for locals now.

‘Overseas visitors slowly picking up’
“Overseas visitors — especially from Australia — are slowly picking up and if that continues we will survive,” Merani said optimistically.

From presentations made at the Expo, the pandemic has also raised awareness among tourism operators here about the sustainability of the industry and the need to tap into local resources much more.

Even the five-star Sheraton hotel where the Expo was held made a special presentation on how they are developing a supply chain of local farmers feeding into their menus.

Since the borders were opened on December 1 last year, according to government figures, 119,000 tourists have arrived in Fiji, with 46,000 coming in April alone.

“I believe that we can work together collectively for providing the value of tourism to Fiji,” argues Hill pointing out the networking that took place here.

“Part of that is that we need to continue to tell the story of tourism and tell the story of what it is that we’re all about.”

Sheryl Lal and Akansha Narayan are final year journalism students at the University of the South Pacific in Suva, Fiji. This story ror In-Depth News was initially published in USP’s student journalism newspaper Wansolwara. Both IDN and Wansolwara collaborate with Asia Pacific Report.

Article by AsiaPacificReport.nz

The Australian government is assisting its citizens stranded in Fiji who also claimed they were mistreated by locals — claims rejects by tourism authorities — after testing positive to covid-19 when they arrived in the country on Boxing Day.

The move follows claims by an Australian family that they were locked in their hotel rooms and ignored by the staff soon after returning positive results for the coronavirus.

Fiji reopened its borders to international travellers on December 1 and that 30,000 visitors had arrived in the country since.

Tourism Fiji said about 75,000 people had booked to stay in hotels and resorts across the country through to the end of January.

Australia is Fiji’s largest tourism market with more than 40 percent of the visitors from Down Under.

In a report, dated 4 January 2022 and aired on Australia’s Channel 7 network, Jacqueline Hoy claimed that what was supposed to be a dream holiday in Fiji had quickly turned into a nightmare for her family.

Hoy said their ordeal began when her brother tested positive for covid-19 soon after the family arrived at Nadi Airport from Sydney on December 26.

Claim family was separated
She also claimed her family was separated and support was scarce.

Hoy said they were locked in their hotel rooms and did not get any food for three days — with calls for help to the hotel staff ignored.

“It is an absolute nightmare,” Hoy told the network. “On arrival at the hotel to check-in, there was no signage, no hand sanitiser and we waited four hours at the reception to check into our room.

“We didn’t get access to our rooms until 11.30pm. We were forced to sign a consent form which basically waived all our rights in relation to covid-19, access to our reports and medical records.

“I haven’t seen any medical reports, I’ve only been told I’m covid positive and I can’t leave my room in 10 days.

“We’ve been told that if any of our family members are seen together, coercing in the corridors — those who are negative will have to stay an extra seven days.”

The family is working with the Australian High Commission in Suva to get them home.

Australia’s Department of Foreign Affairs and Trade (DFAT) said it was providing consular assistance, in accordance with the Consular Service Charter, to the family.

“Due to privacy obligations we are unable to provide further information,” the DFAT said in a statement.

Tourism Fiji refutes tourist’s claims
Tourism Fiji chief executive officer Brent Hill has rejected Hoy’s claims saying this is not the full story.

Hill did not respond to a request for comment from RNZ Pacific but he told local media that the stakeholders in Fiji’s tourism industry took these allegations seriously and were facilitating both sides of the dispute.

The hotel in question on the popular Coral Coast strip has refused to comment.

Fiji’s Hotel and Tourism Association said its investigation had also found that Hoy had made false claims.

The association’s chief executive, Fantasha Lockington, said 30,000 visitors had already visited Fiji over the last five weeks and the majority of them had a wonderful experience.

Both Tourism Fiji and FHTA are expected to release a joint statement soon.

Fiji is currently battling a third wave of the coronavirus with a total of 3009 active cases in isolation and the death toll at 704.

Fiji’s Health Ministry said there were 1555 covid-19 cases recorded since January 1 with 372 of them confirmed on Wednesday.

Health Minister Dr Ifereimi Waqainabete said the Australian woman’s claims of mistreatment by the locals were concerning.

Dr Waqainabete said he had viewed the Channel 7 report, adding that the safety of all visitors to Fiji was important.

“I’ve seen her talking and certainly she does not look too unwell — so we are thankful for that. Certainly, as I’ve alluded to the fact that she is being able to be fully vaccinated also supports her in that regard.

“But her health and safety is very important. That is something that we’ve been working on with Tourism Fiji and the Fiji Hoteliers Association.”

Dr Waqainabete said he had visited some of the hotels and resorts to check their standard operating procedures before Fiji’s borders reopened.

There are occasions where some challenges would be faced, he said.

“I am also grateful that there have been thousands and thousands of visitors that have come through to Fiji safely and have gone back home safely. And that is a testament to the processes that we have in place.”

Be prepared for challenges, Australians told
Covid-19 remains an ongoing global health risk, and Australians who travel overseas during the pandemic have been urged to be aware of the continued challenges associated with international travel.

A government travel advisory states that Australians travelling overseas must be fully prepared, to closely monitor the covid-19 situation in their intended travel destinations and arrange suitable travel insurance.

They are also encouraged to consult the Smartraveller website for the latest travel advice and the Global Covid-19 Health Advisory.

Travel advice in relation to Fiji is available at Fiji Travel Advice & Safety/Smartraveller.

Australians have also been told that the reopening of their borders is not a return to the pre covid-19 international travel environment.

“All travellers need to be aware of risks and take care regardless of where they travel,” a government travel advisory stated.

“This includes having sufficient funds to meet their travel needs and ensuring they have travel insurance and fully understand the details of their insurance, especially regarding contracting covid-19.”

This article is republished under a community partnership agreement with RNZ.

Article by AsiaPacificReport.nz