Chinese travelers wanting to spend their next New Year’s holiday in the South Pacific can include Fiji on their list of easily accessible destinations, thanks to a new partnership between Fiji Airways and Fiji-based tourism leader Rosie Holidays. Together with Fiji Airways, Rosie Holidays plans to operate charter flights to the Fijian city of Nadi from both Shanghai and Beijing during the Chinese New Year celebrations in February 2016. The planned flights, four in total, will help introduce 1,100 new Chinese tourists to Fiji. This is more than double the 500 travelers who visited Fiji earlier this year using two initial charter flights from Rosie Holidays.
The new charter flights are an important step in Fiji’s overall strategy to generate more tourism in the region during what is typically a low point in the season. Taking advantage of the high number of outbound tourists from China during New Year's celebrations is a move that makes sense for both countries. It is hoped that the initiative will benefit not only Rosie Holidays, a 100 percent Fijian owned and operated company employing over 600 people, but also many other players in the hotel and tourism industry throughout Fiji. The Foundation for Rural Integrated Enterprises & Development (FRIEND) takes a holistic approach in its efforts to improve quality of life in Fiji, combining social, economic, and health resources to help underserved communities overcome poverty. Recently, the nonprofit funded an Organic Study Tour to India for the eight Fijian farmers who received the FRIEND Grow Star Award. The commendation recognized farmers from Viti Levu and Vanua Levu for agricultural best practices and allowed the group to travel to India to learn about the nation’s innovative agricultural strategies. During the tour, the group visited several organic farms and food production facilities in India’s Uttar Pradesh and Madhya Pradesh regions. The farmers acquired firsthand knowledge of agricultural interventions such as organic insecticides, fungicides, and compost, as well as strategies for water harvesting. Upon returning home, they were able to share their knowledge of techniques for collecting rain water and improving water tables with the creation of ponds, in addition to methods of rejuvenating barren farmland with organic manure.
The Grow Star Awards program that facilitated the Organic Study Tour is the result of 2.8 million euros of funding from the European Union (EU). In 2012, the EU presented FRIEND with significant resources to improve Fiji’s farming communities through agricultural projects and education. |
About David Pflieger
David Pflieger - Senior Airline Executive
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