Fiji Visitors Bureau says tourism recovery campaign has failed

A report in the Fiji Times, what appears to be the unofficial voice of the Fiji Visitors Bureau says that the Bureau needs another $9 million for marketing to help it bounce back to normal, with the report going on to say that the FVB and Tourism Action group were given $10 million for marketing in the revised Budget but the industry had hoped for $15million for the bureau and $3.8m for TAG.

As a result, tourism marketing campaigns had to be revised and bureau CEO Viliame Gavoka, saying the industry was facing grim times, with hotels reporting weak occupancy rates for April and May and Fiji Islands Hotels and Tourism Association president Dixon Seeto confirming this, saying hotels would normally have a 50% to 60% occupancy rate at this time of year, but most hotels were now reporting an average 25% to 30% occupancy.

Mr Gavoka said television and print media campaigns launched as part of an industry recovery plan had failed, to some extent, to lure tourists adding that these were only effective as long as they were running adding, “Once the campaigns ended, so does the interest in Fiji”.

“We knew this was the case and structured our marketing activities accordingly” he said, but it needed a certain level of funding, which unfortunately, did not materialise”.

“We continue to focus on recovering our numbers by June that is 50,000 visitors a month by then,” adding, “There’s great value for Fiji out there, but again we need to tell people about it through TV and print media, which costs money”.

Last night Mr Gavoka could not confirm the number of visitor arrivals last month but said that in February last year about 35,000 tourists visited Fiji and during normal times the visitor arrivals increased in April as Easter approached.

TravelMole subscribers will recall that TravelMole ran a major Fiji trade campaign at the beginning of the year, so much so that some subscribers became tired of hearing about Fiji!

The Editor felt that he had to respond to this article in the Fiji Times and this is is what he said:

TravelMole is the world’s leading travel and tourism industry eNews with over 16,000 subscribers in Australia and New Zealand and 500,000 globally in 132 countries with 85,000 in the UK alone!

TravelMole does not become involved in debates of this kind normally, except on TravelMole, but as the Editor, Chairman and Managing Director, I felt that we had to set the record straight!

Without any support from the FVB and TAG or any Fijian government funding in any form (although requested but rejected), immediately after the coup TravelMole ran what was without doubt the best trade campaign for Fiji in Australia and New Zealand, right through December 2006 and to the end of January 2007, with clear and tangible evidence of the campaign driving travel agents in Australia and New Zealand to advise their clients to visit Fiji. 

The campaign although realtively limited, had the generous and greatly appreciated support of a number of the leading resorts and operators, with TravelMole running the campaign at at cost without making any money out of it as a gesture to the Fijian tourism industry – TravelMole’s investment in the campaign was ultimately in the region of $A30,000.

TravelMole even visited Fiji to show that it was safe and visited all the particpating reports and operators, reporting live from Fiji for over a week, with interviews with operators and Aussies, Kiwis and Brits on holiday at the time in Fiji. 

It may be that FVB and TAG have not fully realised the power of the travel agent process in Australia and New Zealand and that even the best consumer campaign is really wasted if travel agents are not convinced first about selling Fiji, which we believe is the case in Australia and New Zealand.

We have done what we can to assist Fiji to date at our cost and with the generous and greatly appreciated support of some key resorts and operator and are ready to do more, but cannot secure FVB or TAG support and cannot even be selected, having actually been rejected, to attend the Bula Fiji Tourism Exchange with the objective to build on the excellent work we have already undertaken and reporting live from Fiji again!

We will though continue to support the operators that particpated with us in the early 2007 campaign through editorial and any others that want to do the right thing, that is undertake trade activity in Australia and New Zealand.

We believe that the funds spent by Fiji in Australia on the consumer campaign were largely wasted, not least of all because they did not achieve cut through because of timing, positioning and location of ads, but also because we believe they were aimed at the wrong audience and that the funds would have been better spent at this stage on trade activity, reassuring agents who reassure their clients. 

We believe that Fiji may have made an error of judgement in the travel decision making life cycle in that they went to consumers too early before reassuring the trade – potentially a classic error in these markets.

We are aware that consumer media visits have take place, but they are as ineffective at this time as consumer advertising, simply because agents are not convinced, with Fiji also competing with destinations perceived to be “safe”, who also have more cash than Fiji and are undertaking extensive trade activity – e.g New Caledonia who have just had a prize draw for travel agents to win a $40,000 soft top Peugeot!

We are also aware that some trade educationals have taken place but no media coverage of those was provided to Aus and NZ to encourange other agents to recommend Fiji and they are a drop in the ocean in relation to all the agents in Aus and NZ, who cannot make an educational or be invited. 

Imagine how far the funds that have been spent to date on consumer advertising would have gone if they had been spent on trade advertising and how much further ahead Fiji would be by now!

Then of course, later in the decision making life cycle, going to consumers with some strategic image building ads and associated tactical offers!

The ads to date also lose all impact and effect when a traveller walks into an agency and they are diverted to a perceived “safe” destination, which is doing some heavy trade advertising and trade campaigns as described above!

We look forward to working with the FVB and TAG in getting the Fijian tourism industry back on track and we are ready, able and willing to put our considerable Australian, New Zealand and global resources in 132 countries resources to good effect in achieving that, but would appreciate the support of FVB, TAG and the Fijian Government in doing so!

We have some great programmes that are directly linked to agent awareness and education and driving actual bookings, with agent rewards related to bookings through agents driving business right now……..and we are happy to tell FVB and TAG all about them, but……..we appear to be having some difficulty in being heard in Nadi!!

John Alwyn-Jones: Chairman, Editor and Managing Director: TravelMole, Australia, New Zealand and the South Pacific

A Report and Comment by The Mole and John Alwyn-Jones, Chairman, Editor and Managing Director of TravelMole, Australia, New Zealand and the South Pacific.

Notes: John is a leading Australian and international tourism destination marketing specialist with over 25 years experience working for some of the world’s most successful major destinations.