KEY POINTS:
New Zealanders are snapping up cheap fares and holidays in Fiji, despite last month's coup and Government travel warnings.
The Fiji Visitors Bureau says a $500,000 New Zealand marketing campaign to restore Fiji tourism, which fell after the military coup, had started strongly.
A week ago Fiji's international airline, Air Pacific, announced tax-included $499 return airfares from Auckland to Nadi.
"Since then the phones have been running hot," the bureau's New Zealand regional director, Sala Toganivalu, said yesterday.
Air Pacific's low fares will be on sale until January 30, and cover travel from January 23 to March 31.
Air New Zealand is offering similar low fares.
The response to the fares had been well above expectations, Ms Toganivalu said.
As well, most Fiji resorts and hotels had introduced discounted holiday packages, down by as much as 40 per cent.
The cheaper prices had been extremely successful in reversing the decline in bookings, and cancellations that came after the military takeover on December 5.
Despite the coup, many of Fiji's biggest resorts were busy over the holiday break.
Ms Toganivalu said this was encouraging because these bookings were made before the coup and the introduction of the cheap deals.
New Zealand's Ministry of Foreign Affairs and Trade warned New Zealanders last month to be careful about travel to Fiji.
It said the security risk in Suva was high and increasing in the rest of the country.
Ms Toganivalu said it was reassuring that Fiji's popularity as a holiday destination had not been damaged by the politics of the coup.
- NZPA
