Fiji tourism is back in the market and booming. It is hard to resist the advertising, promoting the most popular tourist destination in the South Pacific. "Sunny, unique and unspoiled, the Fiji Islands are one thousand miles of pristine white sand beaches, fabulous coral gardens and azure lagoons... The genuine friendliness and hospitality of the Fijian People is legendary and time after time is cited by visitors as the single, most memorable experience of their Fiji visit." But amid all its virtues, Fiji's tourism industry, a core of the national economy, was hit hard by the shock of 11 September and, before that, of a military coup in 2000.

After The Coup In 2000

But now visitor numbers are slowly recovering. According to the National Visitors Bureau, tourist numbers to the South Pacific islands exceeded 380,000 in 2001, up some 14% from the previous year, when the coup led by failed businessman George Speight frightened tourists away. In 2000 the number of visitors fell to just a fraction of 1999, which was a record year, after Australia and New Zealand, Fiji's core markets, had advised their citizens to stay away form the islands because their security could not be guaranteed. Tourist from Europe, Japan and the Americas also avoided Fiji.

Coral Reefs

Tourism development in Fiji is causing serious environmental degradation, in particular, coral reefs, which are suffering irreversible damage. This was revealed at a Stakeholders Consultation workshop on Tuesday in Nadi held by the Strategic Environment Assessment (SEA) of Fiji's Tourism Development Plan 1997 - 2005. The SEA was conducted this year through an agreement between the Ministry of Tourism and World Wide Fund (WWF) and is funded by the Asian Development Bank. The SEA was carried out to understand the likely environmental and social impact of the Tourism Development Plan by comparing the current environmental, social and economic baseline and likely trends under the Tourism Development Plan.

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