What a glorious sporting week it was last week.
Two Olympic medals were scooped in fabulous fashion and the whole spectacle was such a brief yet welcome distraction from all things COVID related that we are facing right now.
Rugby sevens is such a great leveller. Showing how our tiny speck of a nation managed to scoop a couple of coveted sports rewards and on the biggest sports stage in the world no less – the Olympics.
Hearts already swollen with pride were fi t for bursting with tears being shed as our women’s rugby sevens team also found themselves on the winner’s podium.
From rank outsiders to worthy contenders for the gold medal, then eventually settling for bronze in the spirit of the games; the women’s rugby sevens team capped off probably Fiji’s biggest achievement than that of the expected, but valiant defending of the gold medal by the men’s team.
And speaking of heroes, let’s not forget those fighting another battle of more dire consequences who are slowly but surely on their way to achieving their own goals.
The very noble team of doctors and nurses and support staff of the Ministry of Health and Medical Services.
Still doggedly persisting with their vaccination program; they have managed to hit their first dose target of 84 per cent of eligible adults vaccinated in a long but hard-fought battle of their own.
With the second dose target slowly inching its way up, at least 26 per cent of the population have now been provided with the extra layer of protection that science advises us these vaccines provide.
If this current momentum can be maintained, we might yet see Fiji achieving its vaccination target by November with current vaccination statistics indicating good progress.
And like it or not, this has no doubt been spurred on by the “no jab, no job” condition for Fijian workplaces that has been enforced all the way through to our municipal markets no less.
Our initial expectations of getting back to work in tourism by the mid to end of 2021 have been dashed by the Delta strain of the COVID virus exploding infections throughout our communities.
Moving rapidly despite curfews, containment zones and difficult to manage restrictions; the super infectious virus has thrived because we are, for the most part, an ethnic mix of large extended families as well as part of larger communities where communal living is both cultural and often the only way to survive.
And as the trail of sickness and death carves its way across our largest and most populous region, the impact is being felt not just on the already stretched resources of our health systems, but on our public and private sector businesses as well.
As more and more people fall sick or are forced to isolate themselves because they have been in contact with someone who has tested positive; we are grappling with tired and reduced workforces facing health and wellbeing issues and the subsequent further decline of productivity.
The heart of the capital empties faster now at the end of each weekday as fewer people are at work physically or are forced to dash to supermarkets and pharmacies on their way home before the 6pm curfew.
The obvious flow-on effect with recently approved to open retail businesses and restaurants converted to takeaway service would be even fewer sales than ever.
With the further trickle-down effect on SMEs and the informal sector giving up the struggle to stay open.
Tracking business performance, the Pacific Trade Invest’s Pacific Business Monitor in May had indicated that the more prevalent business outlook was that there would not be a return to pre-COVID revenue until 2022 or later.
And this was before our infection rates had skyrocketed.
Additionally, it noted that the extent and severity of COVID-19 on Pacific businesses have remained stable (as opposed to worsening), with 84 per cent reporting a more than expected
negative impact.
Fiji Hotel and Tourism Association (FHTA) has repeatedly shared through this forum, the critical need to adapt our current business practices to minimise potential exposure to infection for the medium to long-term future while ensuring that these practices impact our eventual recovery.
Travel and tourism organisations around the world collectively support the thinking that this will be the key to getting the industry out of the current crisis, with the global vaccination drive being the fundamental pillar to supporting this.
No one is safe, until everyone is safe.
For now, tourism’s focus is supporting Fiji to get its vaccination numbers to the target number that will lead to our border situations to be reviewed.
The Delta impact on Suva and the large population that is crammed within the Lami-Nausori corridor is bringing to reality that dreaded scenario the good doctor had often shared with us, that they were trying so desperately to prevent.
Well, it is well and truly here now and if we have been vaccinated, the impact on us if our bubbles get infiltrated as they often do, should be minimal.
With most people having to isolate or quarantine for two weeks or going back to ‘work from home’ if their office is considered compromised and fewer people feeling well enough to get on with the business of business; we are feeling the pulse of this old city slow down.
That slower pulse is now pretty normal on the western side – while our northern neighbours are enjoying more freedom but far less business from potential opportunities that would have come from everywhere else.
Hotel operators around the country are meanwhile hoping that their fully vaccinated status and approved COVID-safe guidelines will give them another opportunity to offer some R&R for those looking for stress relief.
Perhaps domestic tourism can get a bit of a restart once those vaccination numbers move further upwards and we can start to see the expected herd immunity starting to kick in as well.
Even with the introduction of new traffic light systems, travel corridors and bubbles that will henceforth define what our future mobility will look like, the focus on vaccination programs remains a priority for Fiji, and many other countries.
We know that all segments of tourism are reviewing their business strategies and have been re-evaluating their products and services to fi t a world emerging differently.
Airlines have been reviewing their routes and frequencies that have historically been built on solid data from travel demand, travel demographics and flight connections.
Even then much of what happened immediately was never really a reliable sign of what would happen in the future, and now after the worst health crisis in modern times, much of this information is considered even more irrelevant.
So, everyone has been back to that drawing board more than once in the last 12 months.
Demand is now being influenced demographically and global tourism is experiencing never before seen changes from traditional source markets.
We could not have imagined the streets of Suva looking empty and deserted during peak hours in the middle of the week, but here we are.
Fiji will be no different in rethinking where we expect changes might come from in the same manner that many of us thought we could not be impacted so terribly by a virus, or that our economy could be so diminished without tourism’s vital input.
We must survive first to be able to continue with the business of life and eventually work and all the benefits that having employment provides.
Nothing slows you down like being sick, seeing a loved one become sick or worse, watching them die.
Like it or not, we must learn to live with COVID and the threat it holds over us for the foreseeable future.
As difficult as it is trust at a time like this, we must trust that the medical advice we are getting will get us through.
And we must not forget that larger and more developed countries have seen second and third wave surges because medical advice has not been trusted entirely either.
Suffering the same infection levels despite their many COVIDsafe protocols, ability to call for instantaneous lockdowns and far more advanced health systems.
Ultimately it will all come down to the same process. Trust. Comply. Survive. Before we can go back to living and working and reconnecting with family, friends and workplace teams.
Only then can we expect to be on the podium in the winner’s circle against all odds.
- FANTASHA LOCKINGTON is the chief executive officer of the Fiji Hotel and Tourism Association. The views expressed in this article are not necessarily the views of this
newspaper.
