Fijian coup possibility begins to impact on the tourism industry.

It appears that the long running stand off between the Fijian Government and its military Commander is resulting in a decline in tourism and the laying off of casual and seasonal workers.

Reports in the Fiji Times say that hotel occupancy rates in some areas have dropped from the normal 80% to 90% at this time of the year to around 50% as a result of cancelled advance bookings.

Refusing to divulge details on the resorts and number of employees laid off as he would be meeting with hoteliers shortly, National Union of Hospitality Catering and Tourism Industry Employees president Mikaele Ruru said the low occupancy rate, caused by the impasse, had contributed to the layoffs and Mr Ruru is calling on Prime Minister Laisenia Qarase and military commander Voreqe Bainimarama to put their differences aside.

He added, “The very Fijians they say they are representing and are trying to help through the two Bills (Qoliqoli Bill and the Promotion of Reconciliation Tolerance and Unity Bill) are suffering the consequences of their actions.”  “They should not use the Fijian people for their political mileage but just solve the impasse as soon as possible so that the employees who have lost their jobs can feed their families again and most of them are Fijians.

Mr Ruru said if the impasse continued, the hoteliers would be forced to reduce the number of working hours for the remaining workers saying that in the 2000 coup, many hotel workers lost their jobs as tourists stayed away from Fiji and those who were still lucky to have jobs, worked at reduced hours and wage rates.

Mr Ruru said the union was helpless in this situation because tourists were not coming to Fiji as they feared for their safety.

Fiji Islands Hotel and Tourism Association CEO Mereani Korovavala said the occupancy rate in hotels had dropped to 50% from the normal rate of 80% to 90% saying that “Future bookings have been cancelled and at this stage the industry is being challenged to try and keep up to a high satisfied rate of bookings.”

She added, “It is one of the most difficult situations and in terms of value, the industry loses out about a million dollars when these bookings are cancelled, with a prominent hotel losing over $1million when the tourists cancelled their advance bookings for the next few months.”

Mrs Korovavala said political instability had always caused a major impact on the industry, adding “Travel advisories overseas are not helping at all with them advising tourists not to come to Fiji because of political instability.”  “Although we are continuing with our message that tourists should come to Fiji because the environment is calm with people continuing with their daily lives, the advisories are continuing with the opposite message discouraging tourists from coming over.”

Mrs Korovavala said, “The quicker the Government and the military can solve the problem, the better it is for all and we hope that good sense will prevail,”

Director Sales and Marketing at Shangri-La’s Fijian Resort on the Coral Coast, Peter Donlevy, told the Fiji Times,=,  “We have lost about 5% of our bookings in November and 3% in December and there have been no new bookings for the period of November 2006 until April 2007 with the occupancy rate for this month was 61%.”

Mr Donlevy said “We have lost hundreds of guests and we are offering special deals to our primary markets of Australia and New Zealand and we are looking to working with our partners on an industry-wide approach”.

Malolo Island Fiji General Manager Steve Anesty also told the Fiji Times they had not had many advance bookings, saying, “There have been no cancellations as yet but we advance bookings have dropped off and some tourists are only taking precaution measures as a result of travel advisories in their countries.”

Nadi’s popular Sheraton Resorts and Denarau Island Fiji Resort, said that the impact of the continuous impasse between Government and military has not been too bad, with Communications Manager Lina Wati saying that the pinch of the political impasse has been slightly felt, adding “We have continued to receive future bookings while some have preferred to put it on hold.”

Report by The Mole