19 Jun 2007

Fiji tourism setback after spat with New Zealand

10:41 am on 19 June 2007

Fiji's largest industry, tourism, has suffered a further setback following the latest row resulting from the expulsion of the New Zealand high commissioner, Michael Green.

The Fiji Visitors Bureau has lost almost 20-thousand US dollars in penalty payments to New Zealand newspapers for pulling out of tourism promotion advertisements in Friday's and Saturday's editions.

The chief executive of the Bureau, Bill Gavoka, says they've also deferred the television advertisements to a later date but did not have to pay any penalty charges.

The president of the Fiji Hotel and Tourism Association, Dixon Seeto, says the Visitors Bureau did the right thing in pulling out some of its promotions in New Zealand and saving the money.

The New Zealand prime minister Helen Clark, is urging New Zealanders to vote with their wallets and think again about holidaying in Fiji.