New Shanghai office, Air Pacific services Hong Kong, Fiji tourism goes north

Samisoni Pareti





China will be the next best thing for Fiji tourism, says Tourism Fiji chief executive officer Josefa Tuamoto.
On the eve of the launch of Air Pacific’s twice weekly service to Hong Kong from Nadi this month, Tuamoto says the air link will be a shot in the arm for the island’s hospitality industry.
“The new service represents a major boost for Fiji’s tourism intake from the Hong Kong/South East China region which has already shown strong growth in what has proven to be a tough year in many of our traditional and Indian source markets.
“The added bonus is that the new service will be operated on a codeshare basis with Cathay Pacific Airways offering Fiji-bound visitors from Europe, the rest of Asia and of course China, even more linkage to Hong Kong via the airline’s domestic China network.”
For a country that was largely shielded from the global financial crisis, figures of Chinese visitors to Fiji continue to grow, said the Tourism Fiji chief.
Up to October this year, the numbers were already telling a brighter story, said Tuamoto.

Huge opportunity
“There can be no doubt about it, China represents a huge opportunity for Fiji’s tourism industry.
“While the global recession initially had a marked effect on visitor arrivals from several of our key markets in the first half of 2009, China has continued to show good growth.
“Dedicated visitor arrivals from China closed in on the 11,000 mark last year.
“Judging by the pick-up from the market this year, China figures have already reached close on 7,000 in the first eight months of this year, we look set to break that figure with ease.
“Given that there are currently no direct air links with either Hong Kong or mainland China, the 2009 result to-date is indicative of the strong interest from the China market which views Fiji as a new, alternative and good value for money overseas holiday destination.
“With the new service boosting access in December, we are looking for strong growth from the region in 2010 and beyond.”
Beaming with another heavy marketing budget in the government’s 2010 budget of $23.5 million handed down late last month, Tuamoto and his team at Tourism Fiji have already positioned themselves to compliment the marketing campaigns of Air Pacific and the Fiji hotel industry in Hong Kong and mainland China.
With the $23.5 million grant, it means the tourism body has about $64,000 to spend marketing Fiji in one day.
Already, it has bought television ad spots on CNN and National Geographic TV.
Tourism Fiji has also appointed a marketing representative in Shanghai, who is spearheading the destination’s marketing and promotional activities in mainland China.
Said Tuamoto: “We can’t be all things to all people in this market, and the focus is the top end.
“We are working on key segments that will drive the necessary returns for our efforts. Ït should also be remembered that while the codeshare represents a strong opportunity from the China market, the new service feeds directly into Cathay Pacific’s existing international services
“These include other areas of China, across Asia, the Middle East and the UK/Europe which again will enable Tourism Fiji to expand its overall marketing strategy in those international regions we see as offering potential to our tourism industry. 
“We are already strong in the UK/European regions and so this new rate will just help facilitate travel route options for our partners and clients.”
Fiji seems to be reading the Chinese travel market well.
When he addressed a regional tourism seminar on China in Nadi early this year, Pacific Islands Forum Trade Commissioner based in Beijing Samu Savou spoke about targeted marketing.
He said studies showed that by 2010, a little over 40 million Chinese will travel out as tourists.
By 2020, this number is projected to be around 100 million.
“Your target should be the frequent travellers, not the first-time travellers out of China,” said Savou.
“First-time travellers prefer to travel nearby. In fact, figures are showing that 89.7% of all Chinese travellers prefer to holiday around Asia. Then it’s to Europe, then the Americas.
“Just 1.3% come our way to Oceania, and that also include Australia and New Zealand.”
Savou warned the Chinese market cannot be developed overnight as a source market for the islands.
For now, islands operators must work to make holidaying in Oceania easier and more comfortable for Chinese visitors.
“The visa issue is a big problem,” said Commissioner Savou.
“Because of the lack of direct air service from China to the South Pacific, most of them will need to transit through Australia or New Zealand. And although Chinese don’t need a visa to travel to the islands, Australia and New Zealand do require them to apply for a transit visa, so that’s an obstacle.”
He said Air Pacific’s flights to Hong Kong from this month would solve this.

Unique offering
Islands countries, the Fiji national said, should also work on a foreign exchange agreement with China.
For now, no Pacific islands currency can be bought in China, so Chinese visitors will either have to change their money first into American or Australian currency before they come.
Savou strongly feels the Pacific has something unique to offer Chinese visitors and the huge market is worth all the investment.
“They won’t come here for shopping or for luxurious living and cuisine. Chinese will come to the islands because of our pristine environment and our unique cultures.
“So many times we undersell ourselves, we shouldn’t do that as we have something special to offer.”
Opening a marketing office in Shanghai is very strategic for Tuamoto, perhaps showing the scientific background he has as a trained science teacher who also early on in his career worked as a research scientist at the University of the South Pacific.
He then joined the Fiji Trade and Investment Board before he went on study leave to Britain and the United States.
He joined what was then the Fiji Visitors Bureau (FVB) on his return, heading the bureau’s marketing offices in Australia and the US before he became FVB’s marketing manager.
He resigned in 2007 to become general manager of Blue Lagoon Cruises, only to return about 12 months later to become the new boss of Tourism Fiji.
Shanghai is the host of World Expo next year, and thanks to the Chinese Government, the Pacific has been offered one of the biggest pavilions in the world event.
Former Tourism minister Bernadette Rounds Ganilau is Commissioner of the Pacific Pavilion, and Fiji’s participation like the other islands of the Pacific is being coordinated by south-pacific. travel, formerly known as the South Pacific Tourism Organisation.

Emerging markets
“Emerging markets of China and India continue to out-perform traditional Northern markets,” said Tony Everitt, CEO of south-pacific.travel. “We led a tourism delegation to India in August/September and China in November to further capitalise on these opportunities.
“The Shanghai World Expo 2010 is also well placed to assist our promotions.”
Everitt agreed with the current thinking that for Fiji and other islands destinations, China should be a long-term opportunity.
Skills and patience would be required to develop the yield-yielding part of the Chinese market.
“But the return on this development investment will be worthwhile over the long-term.
“We will enjoy working closely with PIFTO (Pacific Islands Forum Trade Office) Beijing to this end.”
Being strategic it seems played a big part too in getting Air Pacific to withdraw from Japan and fly to Hong Kong.
Earlier in the year, Air Pacific CEO John Campbell told our sister magazine ISLANDS BUSINESS that after studying airports in Shanghai, Beijing, Bangkok, Kuala Lumpur and Singapore, Fiji’s international carrier settled for the former British colony.
“The final choice actually came down to Hong Kong for two reasons,” Campbell said then.
“One is operationally; it’s the less expensive airport to get flights in and out. That always plays a part in the economics.
“It offered all of the same hub convenience as Singapore, there was really no difference between the two but it offers proximity to the Chinese market.
“It sits in the middle of the Pearl River estuary and that gives it a catchment area of some 70 million people who actually use the airport right now.
“The other feature is that Hong Kong is a very strong origin market in its own right.
“Its population is only 7 million people but on average they take three international trips per annum so they generate 21 million journeys from Hong Kong and many of those journeys are quite strong, long-haul destinations.
“For example, we compared Mauritius with Fiji where the flying time is pretty similar, the destination could be considered similar and we found that Air Mauritius has been very successful in that market and they are operating with a seat factor of about 85%.
“What we wanted to do is to offer one stop from Europe to Fiji, one stop from Middle East and one stop from the emerging markets of Russia and Eastern Europe, all of which are high growth markets.”