Fijian tourism operators from around Viti Levu were part of a successful week-long road show across New Zealand’s four major cities where they had the opportunity to market their products directly to more than 230 Travel Agents.

The ‘Around Viti Levu’ Roadshow was organised by Tourism Fiji’s New Zealand Regional Office and attracted ten industry operators – a group of nine resorts and Fiji Airways – who presented their products to a selection of Travel Agents from Auckland, Christchurch, Hamilton, and Wellington between 3-6 August.

Tourism Fiji’s Regional Director New Zealand, Wayne Deed said the road show enabled Fijian operators to present a variety of tourism products on Viti Levu to encourage New Zealand consumers to disperse and seek new experiences.

“The road show is an important element of the work that we do to raise the profile of the ‘Fiji’ brand. Through the event, Tourism Fiji is able to have increased destination awareness of Viti Levu as well as increased product knowledge of the front line agents that are present,” he said.

The need to organise and coordinate the road show was further highlighted during the Fijian Tourism Expo held in June this year, when buyers from New Zealand expressed their amazement with the range of properties and activities that Fiji has to offer.

To ensure the road show met everybody’s expectation, Tourism Fiji New Zealand provided all the logistical arrangements for the week and delivered an engaged audience to all the venues for the local tourism operators to engage with.

Radisson Blu Fiji Resort Director of Sales, Ms Suzie Jones who attended the road show said such an event is invaluable to the Fijian tourism operators.

“One of the most important aspects of this road show is getting to the coalface – the actual agents that book. We talk to our Product Managers in the main wholesaler market of New Zealand and they know our product well but being able to present to the agents that actually talk to the clients is a huge benefit,” she said.

Sigatoka River Safari Managing Director, Mr Jay White who was also present at the road show shared similar sentiments.

“It was definitely beneficial being able to speak with the front line sellers in New Zealand and provide them with the accurate and latest information about 'what to do' when holidaying in Fiji, adding “that the feedback from those who attended the Roadshow was extremely positive and they loved knowing what their guests had on offer for their time in Fiji.”

“We look forward to another 2016 Roadshow and we would like to thank everyone at

Tourism Fiji New Zealand Office for their assistance in making the event such a success,” he added.

By Reginald Chandar