Caption: Minister for Industry, Trade and Tourism, Hon. Faiyaz Siddiq Koya senior government officials, Tourism Fiji representatives and a range of other leading industry figures from the private sector at the Tourism Fiji roadshow in India.Photo:SUPPLIED.
Tourism Fiji’s Roadshow to India has been deemed a “massive success” after visiting four of the country’s largest cities, expanding opportunities in one of the most important growth markets for Fiji’s tourism industry.
The week-long roadshow – led by the Minister for Industry, Trade and Tourism, Hon. Faiyaz Siddiq Koya – included senior government officials, Tourism Fiji representatives, and a range of other leading industry figures from the private sector. It made stops in New Delhi, Kolkata, Mumbai and Chennai.
The Minister said that the roadshow is a central part of Tourism Fiji’s marketing and promotion strategy for India – one the markets it has identified as having the best potential for growth.
Minister Koya said that this year’s Roadshow was especially important because it follows Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s historic visit to Fiji in November last year.
Speaking at the Roadshow in New Delhi, the Minister said, “I know that Prime Minister, Hon. Narendra Modi’s recent visit to our country significantly raised Fiji’s profile in India, and we are certainly keen to build on that momentum with this visit.”
He said that the importance of India to Tourism Fiji’s long-term strategy to boost visitor arrivals cannot be overstated.
“The country is central to our plan to expand into non-traditional markets and we expect 2015 to be a bumper year in terms of visitor arrivals from the Subcontinent,” he said.
“I believe this optimism is well placed because there is such great potential for growth. There are so many opportunities to explore within the Indian market and these roadshows are absolutely essential to help us chart the way.”
The Minister thanked the Attorney-General and Minister for Finance, Hon. Aiyaz Sayed-Khaiyum, for providing the impetus and laying the framework for more aggressive mutually beneficial engagement in trade and tourism between Fiji and India, in his meetings with the Indian Minister for External Affairs and the State Minister for Commerce during his recent visit to India.
“Over 450 travel and tour operators participated in this year’s the roadshow, which is an increase from previous years. This is an indication of the growing interest in Fiji from the Indian traveller,” the Minister said.
“One of the key successes of the roadshow was the launch of a new brochure on Fiji in Mumbai – targeted at the average Indian traveler. This brochure was developed by Tourism Fiji in partnership with a world renowned Swiss-based travel and tour operator Kuoni–SOTC,” the Minister added.
The roadshow followed Fiji’s participation in the three-day South Asian Travel and Tourism Exchange (SATTE), in New Delhi, which ended on Saturday, 31 January 2015.
“Tourist numbers from India may be small compared to our traditional markets, however, these numbers are steadily increasing, and events such as the SATTE tradeshow are avenues that we use to generate interest in Fiji,” said the Minister.
“SATTE provides a platform for the tourism industry and governments to network and create new business relations,” said the Minister.
Accompanying Minister Koya was the Assistant Minister for Industry, Trade and Tourism, Hon. Lorna Eden, senior Government officials, Tourism Fiji officials, as well as representatives from Fiji Airways, Rosie Holidays, Namale Resort, the Pearl Resort, Ahura Resorts, Royal Davui, Captain Cook Cruises and Tour Managers Representatives.
The India Roadshow is an annual Tourism Fiji event that has been underway for the past four years.
DEPTFO