The Pacific nation is famed for its idyllic white-sand
beaches and relaxed, welcoming attitude. And it depends on the tourist dollars
those features attract. Fiji’s economy took one of the biggest pandemic-related
hits in the world last year, declining by 19% and prompting the government to
offer jobless people tools and cash to become farmers.
So it was with a sense of relief that officials greeted the
first tourist flight from Sydney. More flights from Australia and the U.S. are
scheduled in the coming days.
Fiji Airways Chief Executive Andre Viljoen told media that
the resumption of tourism would help reignite the economy.
“Welcome to this very momentous day,” he said. “We have been
waiting for this day for the past 20 months.”
He said the airline’s health and safety measures had been
designed to account for potential coronavirus variants, and it had put in place
extra screening for omicron to ensure passengers hadn’t recently visited any
high-risk countries.
He said the airline experienced some cancellations in recent
days following media coverage of the new variant, which was first reported in
South Africa last week, but they also had re-bookings and new bookings,
resulting in little overall change.
Tourism Fiji Chief Executive Brent Hill said 75,000 tourists
had booked travel to the country over the next couple of months and the group
had launched a campaign fronted by Australian actor Rebel Wilson.
Fiji was spared from the worst of the virus until April,
when an outbreak of the delta variant took hold. The outbreak killed nearly 700
people but has now faded to about five new infections each day.
About 64% of Fiji’s population is fully vaccinated and 70%
have had at least one dose, according to research from Our World in Data.
Attorney-General Aiyaz Sayed-Khaiyum said that chefs,
gardeners and wait staff had been getting back to work in recent days.
“There is a real buzz of activity,” he said.
Those jobs would create economic opportunities for others as
the tourism ecosystem expanded, he said.
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