Tourism Fiji and the Australian Government’s Market Development Facility (MDF) are working together on several exciting initiatives to support the development of new and emerging tourism products and experiences, for both international and domestic tourism. 

Tourism Fiji and MDF will commission an economic impact study to explore opportunities around sports tourism in Fiji and partner to develop a yachting tourism marketing strategy to enhance Fiji’s position as a yachting hub for the Pacific region.

Announcing the partnership around World Tourism Day, Tourism Fiji Chief Marketing Officer Emma Campbell said the new agreement befits this year’s international theme for the day, ‘rethinking tourism’.“The partnership with MDF really helps to give us the insights we need to make strong decisions that benefit Fiji and our tourism industry.

These joint activities are helping us get razor-focused on what we need to do to re-think tourism and capitalise on the opportunities that are identified in the ever-changing environment we are all working in,” said Mrs. Campbell.

Last year, to inform Fiji’s tourism reopening strategy post COVID-19, MDF supported the establishment of the Tourism Statistics Taskforce (TST), made up of national tourism stakeholders including the Ministry of Commerce, Trade, Tourism & Transport (MCTTT), Fiji Hotel & Tourism Association (FHTA) and Tourism Fiji.

The TST set up a live tourism dashboard that collected the latest tourism data trends and analytics for key tourism source markets. This information was used to inform Fiji’s tourism reopening strategy and was also shared with industry at the recent Fiji Tourism Expo in May 2022.

This new partnership agreement between Tourism Fiji and MDF builds on the earlier support to the TST and will also include demand data for new markets like Canada, as well as training and capacity building for TST members to be able to generate regular key insight reports for the local tourism industry.

“It’s so important that Fiji tourism operators and hotels continue to have access to the key data and insights to inform and adjust their product offers in order to maximise opportunities emerging post pandemic. We are delighted to partner with Tourism Fiji to deliver this important service to the industry,” said MDF Fiji Country Director Malcolm Bossley.  

. Work on the economic impact study for sports tourism and the yachting industry marketing strategy is expected to begin next month.