January 2007

The Travel Bug - Issue 23

Australia Lowers Travel Advisory to Fiji

DFAT lowered its travel advisory to Fiji from "reconsider the need to travel" to "high degree of caution", for Fiji overall, with "reconsider the need for travel to Suva" remaining in place… Fiji tourism operators hope that the lowering of the Australian advisory will increase tourist numbers from Australia and that travellers, wholesalers and agents that may have held back from Fiji trips will now once again put Fiji at the top of the agenda as one of Australia's top destinations. As The Mole has reported all this week that there is no evidence whatsoever from either what The Mole has seen or from the discussions The Mole has had with dozens of operators and tourists, that there is anything whatsoever to be concerned about in Fiji. One thing is for certain this morning as dawn breaks over Fiji, that workers right across the country will be celebrating that the potential return of the Fijian tourism industry to normal will secure their income and jobs. (Source: Travel Mole News 11/01/2007).

Increase Tourism to Fight Poverty, says UNWTO

The World Tourism Organization (UNWTO) said that 2007 should be a critical year to consolidate tourism as a key agent in the fight against poverty and a primary tool for sustainable development. Against a projection of continuing worldwide growth in international tourism of more than 4% for international arrivals and revenues, Secretary-General Francesco Frangialli called for renewed effort to include sustainable tourism in the international development agenda, as a key tool to advance the Millennium Development Goals. Frangialli said that “mainstreaming tourism in the International Development Agenda did not require such a great leap of faith. The tourism sector is the largest common area of export income and foreign direct investment across the world's poorest countries. Tourism to these countries is growing at twice the rate of industrialized markets. No sector spreads wealth and jobs across poor economies in the same way as tourism.” (Source: UNWTO News Releases 02/01/2007)

Australia Remains New Caledonia's Top Destination

Australia remain the most attractive holiday destinations for holidaymakers from neighbouring New Caledonia, latest statistics released by the local statistical institute ISEE revealed. The new figures, based on outgoing flights from New Caledonia, show that out of the yearly 100,000 or so departures from residents (for a total population of about 230,000), about 37 percent chose Australia as their preferred destination. Within Australia, New Caledonian holidaymakers have a history for visiting the Brisbane region and its Gold Coast, where any New Caledonians have, for years, also chosen to invest in a property. Mainland France is the second choice, with about 30 percent. The other two significant destinations are also New Caledonia's closest neighbours, New Zealand and Vanuatu, local television Télé-Nouvelle-Calédonie reports. (Source: Oceania Flash 04/01/2007)

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