Tourism, Security and Safety From Theory to Practice

Sa ka ga ni
yalo
; FVB, 2000b). The Spirit of Fiji campaign was created in part as a response
to the takeover by landowners of some key resorts in July. The campaign was
aimed at the local indigenous community, and sought their help, assurance, and
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hard work to rebuild the idea of the “friendly Fiji islands.” Advertisements
appeared on television with employees and landowners featured prominently
because they were considered to play a significant role in the hospitality industry.
The advertisements highlighted the hardships being confronted by the industry,
and communicated the human effects of the tourism downturn on employees who
had been made redundant or were forced to reduce their working hours. The cam-
paign was also taken out to villages through public meetings, school meetings,
media releases, and visits to groups such as farmers, schools, landowners, elders,
and tour operators. According to Silaitoga, another aim of the campaign was to
encourage people to write to overseas diplomatic representatives to urge them to
lift the travel advisories (Silaitoga, 2000). The final pre-pre-launch activity also
involved a program of public relations overseas, however, and many events stood
in the way of the recovery program.
The prolonged internment of the hostages was not the only issue with which the
tourism industry had to contend. Land ownership issues were exacerbated by
events associated with the coup. In early July, landowners from the Monasavu area
seized control of the Wailowa power station and cut Fiji’s electricity supply. It was
to be nearly 8 weeks until power was fully restored and this impacted tourism oper-
ations outside the capital as well as in Suva.
The tourism industry was also affected by land ownership disputes. The coup
leaders engaged in inflammatory rhetoric about indigenous land rights, which
prompted disputes over resort-based tourism. In total, eight resorts were occupied
by hostile landowners, the most notable being Turtle Island Resort which was taken
over during “children’s week.” The resort had recently won the British Airways’
Tourism for Tomorrow
Award for the Pacific Region, thereby ensuring high-profile
media coverage and a strong word-of-mouth effect. Initially the resort was occu-
pied by Naisisili villagers, and then the owner and manager was taken hostage. The
images broadcast internationally of families being evacuated from the island fur-
ther damaged the tarnished image of tourism in Fiji and introduced the specter of
personal threats to tourist security. The status of Turtle Island as a luxury property
attracting the rich and famous meant that news of its difficulties caused the con-
cern among travel distributors that no one anywhere in Fiji was entirely immune to
the instability.