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BRISBANE - Tourism in Fiji could take two years to bounce back from the latest bout of civil unrest to rock the Pacific nation, industry experts say.
This was despite reports from resort and cruise operators that the main tourist areas remained "completely unaffected" by today's coup.
"The tourists are fine because they are on one side of the island far away from where the trouble is happening in the capital Suva," the chairman of Fiji's Tourism Action Group (TAG), Damend Gounder said today.
"The resorts are unaffected by roadblocks and there is no military presence here on this side."
Travel group Flight Centre Ltd said it was keeping a close eye on the country, but agreed holidaymakers were unlikely to be affected by the instability.
"They fly into the major airport, but they take off straight away and head off to a remote island to sit on a beach," company spokesman Hayden Long said.
The TAG was formed in May 2000 to help address the drop in tourists after the coup that year, which was the third following two earlier military coups in 1987.
Mr Gounder said it took at least two years for the industry to recover, and they are now bracing themselves for a similar situation.
"This year, again it would have been a bumper year, and I would think that it would take at least 18-24 months to get back to the levels we were heading for here," he said.
He said people at all levels in the industry would suffer, and that TAG would meet in the coming weeks to determine a course of action.
"It's going to be a very, very tough time, especially now when it's coming round to the festive season," he said.
Australia Fiji Business Council executive director Frank Yourn said tourism numbers were not yet reflecting the events in Fiji, and that it was difficult to predict how long it would take to show.
Mr Gounder said the west coast of the island remained "peaceful" and that he had not heard a single report of tourists leaving because they felt unsafe.
However, tourism operators and resorts have reported a drop in forward bookings.
"There have been significant cancellations from many resorts," Mr Gounder said.
A Qantas spokesman said today that 35 Fiji holiday packages booked in Australia during November had been cancelled.
He would not disclose the average number of Fiji holiday packages it sells in a month, but said the drop was not "significant".
Kiwi Steve Forrest, who runs Blue Lagoon Cruises, said his company's overall bookings for December had dropped by 30 per cent, while bookings from Australia and New Zealand had dropped by a massive 50 per cent.
"They're our two biggest markets, so it is a bit of a worry but I think it's largely because of the way the Australian media has beat up what's happening over here," Mr Forrest said.
"It's hardly a coup... I would call it a political situation because there have been no bullets fired and there has been no blood shed."
- AAP
