Travellers cancel Fiji holidays

By GEOFF CUMMING

Hundreds of New Zealanders are altering Fiji holiday plans as the tourism industry tries to limit the fallout from Suva's turmoil.

Travel agents are offering alternative deals to clients who cannot get travel insurance for Fiji unless they booked before 4 pm last Friday.

Destinations such as the Cook Islands and Vanuatu are the big winners, with families transferring bookings for the July school holidays - usually a peak time for Fiji, which draws 70,000 New Zealanders a year.

Insurers will not write new cover while Foreign Affairs Ministry advice against "non-essential" travel to Fiji, imposed on Friday, remains in place. Diplomatic efforts began yesterday to persuade the ministry to lift this.

Travel industry officials are stressing that the Suva troublespot is more than 200km from the Coral Coast tourism belt south of Nadi and its islands that attract most tourists.

"The situation is contained in a small part of Fiji. The rest of the place is business as usual," said Penny Henderson, of the Fiji Visitors Bureau.

Hotels and tour wholesalers suggested that visitors adopt a wait-and-see policy.

Go International general manager Mike Geary said global and local flights at Nadi Airport were unaffected and transfers and the telephone system were working normally. The company was arranging new destinations for about 30 clients.

Air New Zealand spokesman Alastair Carthew said the events in Suva had produced "very little drop-off" in flight loadings and scheduled services were running as normal.