29 Mar 2007

Fiji tourism expected back to normal by June

3:33 pm on 29 March 2007

The Fiji Visitors Bureau says it expects all tourism industry workers to return to full employment from June this year.

Some tourism workers were left out of work or with reduced hours following last year's coup.

The head of the Fiji Visitors Bureau, Bill Gavoka, says figures from February show visitor levels were down about ten percent from last year, but the industry is rebuilding comfortably.

He says the target is to reach 50,000 visitors by June, and this will mean just about every employee in tourism should then be fully re-employed.

Mr Gavoka also disputes the worker union's claims that hoteliers are using the coup as an excuse not to re-hire workers.

"As a hotelier we need our employees we want them to come back as quickly as possible. It is a service industry, if it needs two people to do it you can't do it with one. And a lot of these people are keen to have their people back as soon as possible. Some people with another agenda are suggesting otherwise and I'm telling you that is absolutely not true."

Bill Gavoka says the biggest focus is to rebuild visitors' confidence.