Riya Mala 
Cocker says the Pacific received about 2.7 million international visitors last year. [Photo: FILE]
Fiji continues to strengthen its position as the Pacific’s tourism hub, accounting for around 71 percent of the region’s $9 billion tourism earnings last year, according to the Pacific Tourism Organization.
Chief Executive Christopher Cocker says Fiji has become the benchmark for tourism development in the Pacific, with neighbouring island nations now looking to learn from its success rather than compete with it.
Cocker says the Pacific received about 2.7 million international visitors last year, with Fiji accounting for nearly half of those arrivals.
He adds that many Pacific countries are now using Fiji’s experience to strengthen their own tourism industries.
“So a lot of our countries, to me, are not here to compete with Fiji. They are here to see Fiji as a big brother and a role model. For them, it is also a learning curve to see what Fiji has achieved.”
Cocker says regional tourism officials visited Fiji Airways, Tourism Fiji, and Fiji Airports to learn from Fiji’s tourism success and share those lessons with their respective countries.
Tourism Fiji CEO Dr. Paresh Pant says the South Pacific Tourism Exchange will return to Fiji next May alongside the Fiji Tourism Exchange, bringing together tourism buyers and operators from across the Pacific.
“By working together, we find that from a resourcing perspective, we can achieve and deliver more, including sharing differences in visitor numbers and earnings magnitudes.”
Dr. Pant says hosting the two events together will strengthen regional tourism and reinforce Fiji’s position as the Pacific’s leading tourism hub.
