Tourism Fiji has reactivated its Tourism Action Group (TAG) and mobilised industry and government leaders to draw up a collective strategy to protect Fiji’s tourism sector amid an ongoing global crisis, chief executive officer Dr Paresh Pant said in Nadi. The committee, which brings together senior public- and private-sector figures, will meet later this week to begin work on immediate measures and a longer-term plan, he confirmed.
Dr Pant said the group’s immediate priority is to provide reassurance to bookings already made for the April to October period. “The immediate focus is looking at the April to October period, is to give reassurance to the booking that are already there,” he said, adding that attention will then turn to the October-to-April season as market shifts unfold. “We can collectively start thinking about it now in having a plan very soon to be able to roll it out and capture that latent demand that might go to Asia to then redirect it to Fiji as we will be protecting our industry moving forward.”
TAG, which Tourism Fiji says was reactivated specifically to prepare for the current global disruption, will be chaired by Damend Gounder, managing director of the Tour Managers Group. Membership includes Deputy Prime Minister and Minister for Tourism and Civil Aviation Viliame Gavoka, Fiji Airways chief sales and marketing officer Kamal Haer, Fiji Hotel and Tourism Association chief executive Fantashia Lockington, Permanent Secretary for Tourism and Civil Aviation Salaseini Daunabuna, Permanent Secretary for Finance Shri Goundar, FNPF chief investment officer Naibuka Saune and Dr Pant.
A central motivation for the reactivation is shifting travel flows in other regions. Dr Pant flagged that Southeast Asia has lost substantial bookings because of disruptions to connectivity with Middle Eastern carriers and that recovery campaigns from those destinations could compete for the same source markets Fiji targets. “They will mount a recovery campaign of their own, but they will be targeting the very resource markets that we target. So, what is our response going to be like?” he asked, stressing the need to capture redirected demand.
Tourism Fiji’s move frames TAG as a coordination mechanism aimed at aligning public policy, airline and hotel marketing, and finance sector support to bolster confidence among tour operators and travellers. Dr Pant said the group will not only focus on reassuring travellers with existing bookings but also on preparing a prompt, co‑ordinated marketing and operational response to seize opportunities as market dynamics change.
The meeting later this week is expected to set out initial priorities and timelines for the campaign Dr Pant described, though he did not detail specific measures or funding at this stage. Reopening TAG signals a shift from contingency monitoring to active intervention, with government ministers and key industry executives positioned to rapidly translate strategy into market actions to protect jobs and revenues in Fiji’s tourism-dependent economy.
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