28% more Indians visit Fiji

Fiji Tourism has recorded 28 per cent increase in Indian arrivals to Fiji in the first 6 months of 2017, reveals Matthew Stoeckel, Chief Executive Officer, Tourism Fiji.

Nisha Verma

Tourism Fiji conducted a six city roadshow in India recently. Matthew Stoeckel says, “The attendance has been really strong. The quality of travel agents turning up for the roadshow has been great and we are getting good feedback about the products and the potential of the Indian market.”

Stoeckel claims that they are dedicated to make the India market work. “It’s a market we see huge potential in largely due to Fiji’s appeal of pristine environment, luxury resorts, and a plethora of activities that can be undertaken. Also, it’s never been easier to travel to Fiji from India. Now, there is increased connectivity with our national carrier’s twice weekly service via Singapore, as well as recent code share with Jet Airways to connect Singapore with three cities in India – Chennai, Delhi and Mumbai,” claims Stoeckel. For him, India is a growing market. “In the last five years, we have seen the numbers go up by 20 per cent year on year. In the first half of 2017, the numbers have increased to 28 per cent as compared to the same period last year. We expect this to accelerate even further with a whole range of consumer activities that we are doing in the market. One of the big initiatives is the travelogue, which we have done with Indian actress Ileana D’Cruz, that will be a part of our marketing campaign as well,” he adds.

Vaijayanthi Kari, Country Head, Tourism Fiji, says that apart from the roadshow and consumer activities, they also did frontline training to focus on the Tier-II and Tier-III markets in India. “We did our frontline training with Fiji Airways and Rosie Holidays in Hyderabad, Chennai and Bengaluru. We did another round of training with Singapore Airlines in Nagpur, Jaipur, Lucknow, Ahmedabad, Baroda, Jalandhar and Delhi. Through such training activities, we are creating awareness about Fiji, and talking to agents about the kind of offerings we have,” Kari concludes.