Fijitimes online, October 21, 2006
FIJI's reputation as a quality destination, and not a low-pay structure, is what attracts tourism investment, says the Fiji Visitors Bureau.
Chief executive officer Viliame Gavoka was responding to a presentation at a regional conference that foreign direct investment in tourism was predicated in Fiji's maintenance of a low wage structure.
Professor Vijay Naidu of Victoria University in Wellington and Elizabeth St John-Ives, a Masters student, presented a study at this week's regional conference on Institutions, Globalisation and their impacts on labour markets in Pacific island countries.
Mr Gavoka said the labour cost component of doing business in Fiji was much higher than among some competitors in Asia.
He said people invested in Fiji tourism because it was a destination that continued to grow in popularity and would continue to do so.
"It is demand-driven and demand for Fiji will grow. If it was driven largely by low wages, then some of the more populous countries inAsiawould be seeing huge tourism investments, but they are not," said Mr Gavoka.
He said tourism industry workers were not lowly paid. He said they had more non-cash benefits than workers in most other industries.
