Small tourism operators are looking at other alternatives to sustain themselves during the downturn period.

One of them is the Joyce Aviation Group that operates Heli-Tours and Tandem Skydive.

Today the Nadi based company shifted its focus to Suva, offering discounted rates to the locals due to an increase in demand.

Aviation Group Chief executive Tim Joyce says this is part of their bid to stimulate the local market and expand their services to other parts of the country.

“We’ve decided to make a weekend of it, bring the aircraft over, offer people short scenic flights over Suva that they wouldn’t be able to afford otherwise and also give them a little bit exposure.”

Joyce says they’ve mostly relied on tourists, but due to the downturn, they decided to go local to cushion the impact on their business.

“Heli-Tours and Skydive Fiji have been close to 85% dependent on the Chinese market so we were probably one of the first companies majorly affected by it because most of the Chinese are 10% of the total tourists in Fiji, being 80% of ours was a massive impact.”

Lifeflight Fiji who works closely with Joyce Aviation Group for transportation were also present at the event, providing insights on their services.