OAG On Air: in conversation with Brent Hill, CEO at Tourism Fiji
With the global recovery well underway it's noticeable how many destinations are adjusting their strategies and their products to be more environmentally friendly and of course sustainable in this podcast we travel the world literally to talk to Brent Hill the CEO of Tourism Fiji about how the destination is changing its marketing the product offering and most importantly how it's recovering from a pandemic for any island economy air service is absolutely essential and this is one of the few destinations to have both a long-haul local airline and a mix of inbound international services I hope you enjoy this podcast so hi everyone delighted to be joined by Brent Hill who's the CEO of Fiji Tourism and this is the first time we've done a podcast where we time travel because brent is currently on his tuesday and it's still monday evening here brent I believe that's welcome in Fiji yeah that's correct Paula very nice to be with you john thank you for having me pleasure now you have either won the Australian lottery or you must be one of the luckiest guys in the world to end up in Fiji promoting tourism how did that happen yeah look it is it's been a pretty amazing ride but to be honest it wasn't all you know beer and skittles early on I came across I’ve been with south Australian tourism which is my home state in Australia I’ve been with them for about six years and I came across the middle of last year so we were deep in the pandemic it was very difficult to get across because of the restrictions on travel and we had a curfew at the time of 6 p.m. so when we first got here we had to do quarantine it was it was very quiet I actually lived in a resort for about seven or eight weeks and pretty much aside from a medical team from Australia doing vaccines and so on with the Fijian government we were pretty much the only people there so it was very surreal but obviously since then you know things have really accelerated and obviously my first task was to get you know Fiji’s board is open and then and then really start crank things up and it's been an amazing ride and we're certainly doing very well now so let me get this right you arrived in Fiji and you had a whole tourism resort to yourself apart from a few medics I did I did yeah so it was quite surreal like I’d go for a run you know I’m out I had a quarantine at this stage so I’d go for a run in the morning and I’d come back and you can imagine those you know huge resort pools that they have and of course you know I’d just be you know lulling about in that and I would just call out to the you know one staff member that you know could I get my latte and so on it was it was surreal it was it was one of the most incredible experiences of our life and you know we had a couple of days where we went out on the water and you know it's just no nobody around so you could just you know snorkel in some of the best spots you could surf cloud break and there was just no one around so it was it felt very surreal but of course you know we knew we had a job to do and as nice as that was in terms of you know quiet and so on we certainly are much happier now seeing everybody you know back in work and tourists enjoying Fiji and things cranking up again and obviously plenty of time for thinking it's been an interesting pools in the whole aviation tourism and travel sector for the last two years around the world isn't it and as you were pausing with your life your latte on the beach what was you what was your thinking about the future for Fiji because you must have come with a vision and other stakeholders would have shared their visions how was that shaping up for you from your early days yeah look I think you know I think the one thing that because I’ll get asked the question a lot you know why Fiji and why I moved from Fiji for to Fiji from Australia and look I think one of the things is that you know Fiji I could see that Fiji had what the world needed post code I think everybody you know wanted to be able to have a break they wanted to feel unrushed you know you could definitely feel like I’d been in Australia through the pandemic through a large part of the pandemic and you could feel that all of that positive energy from the start of the pandemic you know we're going to it's going to be a kindness thing we're going to look after each other and that has sort of run out and being replaced by you know frustration and you know I think I think people just really wanted to move on and looking at Fiji I was like well there's such a great opportunity there we've got these you know beautiful spaces it's you know it's warm the people are hospitable and still are and it's just an unhurried life here so from that perspective I was like well if we can if we can get this open particularly in the southern hemisphere where you know people are going to look to take a trip that's a little bit different to you know just the continual traveling domestically that they've been doing through the pandemic yeah then I thought well even if we only have a few markets open to us we can do really well and that's proven to be the case we we've got Australia new Zealand and us doing sort of 93 94 of arrivals so far but yeah we just started to see you know Europeans and Asians starting to come now as those routes open up wow and that that reopening I mean it's a really difficult set of decisions that governments everyone has to take in the whole process how mindful were they of tourism in in that discussion I mean it's a big part of the economic activity isn't it yeah it is it's around 38 of our GDP so you know when I first got here you know I’ve been having conversations with you know the board and the Fijian government probably you know for a few months before I was able to get across to Fiji and it was very clear at the time it was like look you know the government said look we're going to roll out a vaccine program we want you guys to push that and then we we've got to put our foot down we're going to open before the end of the year so you know from that perspective I think you know one thing that I have to say is you know I really applaud the Fijian government for you know understanding and recognizing that real balance between you know the economic needs of the country and the health needs and you know around the world not everybody got that right and got that balance right but it seemed like the good thing in Fiji was there was always a really open dialogue you know that they were very much looking at the data and the science and one thing that I was really pleased about was you know you we have these very regular discussions you know the head of health would be there but so would so would the economic guys and you know we sort of all thrash it out and I think that every time we managed to get really pragmatic solutions and to be honest it's amazing for a very small country not even a million people out here in the south pacific I think that Fiji in the sort of six months that it took from you know the middle of the year to the end of the year to get open you know I think I think really just didn't put a foot wrong you know got it right the whole way through you know had had people that were very dynamic and made key decisions and you know I was very proud of the fact that we opened when we did because you know there was a lot of places that didn't so for a smaller country Fiji’s done exceptionally well it's good to hear that you know small markets where everyone has similar objectives can make those things happen and you mentioned your major source markets at the moment obviously Australia and new Zealand that's not just tourism though that is it I mean they are essential air services by the very definition of the world for not just tourism but obviously for visiting friends and family for trade commerce everything yeah exactly because you know around the around the world obviously we have Fiji airways who do an amazing job and you know very commercial modern airline you know great a great fleet but coming out of Australia and new Zealand for example in new Zealand we have Fiji airways and air new Zealand and then coming out of Australia we have obviously Fiji airways but also JetStar Qantas and virgin so you know certainly in those markets you know all those other airlines you know it keeps things are pretty competitive but certainly Fiji airways has the biggest network they fly in from the biggest number of ports and the really you know pleasing thing from an aviation side of things has been that you know we've seen continual growth in capacity we've seen you know up gauging happening already and load factors being pretty good and Fiji airways are really starting to expand the number of ports that they're flying in from so we've got three for example new Zealand that they fly into already which is great and in Australia obviously we've got Brisbane Sydney and Melbourne we've Adelaide due to open in about a month so it is great that even though we've still only got a small part of the world open to us that we are seeing growth and it I’d be interested I mean clearly you weren't there 2019 pre-pandemic and everything but do you get any feedback from locals about the tourist and you know their profile their demographic has it changed at all or is it same type of demographic and demography just coming back or have you seen a step change in the type of travel you're seeing yeah now look what's really exciting for me I think you know I’ve been looking at the data and I think one of the things that that's one of the things that I’m that I’m really excited about john is that we've been able to sort of really grow our market in the sense that we had so many people that have been coming over for the first time which is amazing I think that Fiji particularly in in Australia new Zealand had the family market absolutely covered I think people very much looked at Fiji as a family market you know flop and drop kind of scenario but I think that you know we've had a real focus ever since I got here of really sort of pushing out a message about the depth of Fiji and sort of exoticness I guess you know even for myself I thought I knew Fiji pretty well but now that I live here you know I still probably only covered half the country in a year and I’m pretty much going out all the time so even for a small place there's so much to discover and I think that's been something that we've really wanted to push out there you know to the Australian new Zealand market particularly who feel like they know Fiji that actually there's a whole lot of depth to it so that that's been great I mean that means that we're getting a younger audience we're getting some adventurers we're getting solo travel and I think covert has changed things you know we are seeing like a lot of that multi-generational travel so you know things like if we've got villas or residences as we call them they're sold out through the end of the year because you're getting big family groups or big friendship groups that are getting together because they haven't been together for best part of three years so yeah we are seeing some quite different demographics coming in which is really positive it means that you know when you look at the charts now and you look at the data of who's coming in it's really quite a broad cross-section which is great and how does that pan out in terms of you know economic contribution to the island is there is there a noticeable change in in the type of spend the average yield per visitor the length of stay or is that state pretty constant yeah there is so we're just doing an official survey now we just started that with the Fiji bureau of stats so anecdotally though the length of stay is around the same sort of mark so we would we were around sort of averaging about nine and a half nights so that's about the same but the yield is definitely up we're certainly seeing from a hotel perspective the average daily rate in the red part is stronger I’ve heard from so many hotels that tell me that their f b is well up sometimes you know 25 30 percent up and that's not that's not from pricing that's just you know I think people spoiling themselves flashing out a little bit which is great so I think from that perspective the signs are all really good and to put in perspective you know when we open the borders in December now obviously that opens for tourism but also you know trade and business starts to ramp up again as well the guy a custom service who I know very well they the revenue and customer service they contacted me and said that in December we took 75 percent of the total sort of revenue coming into the country for the full year in just that one month so wow you know the impact about what is phenomenal either that or they were checking more people more frequently as they came through how do you how do you position Fiji that you know makes it different and stand out you talked about the friendliness the vast array of products and offering that you're experiencing yourself but how do how do you articulate that to a market that that probably already has a perception wasn't it of Fiji yeah look I think the trump card and I know it's going to sound funny but the trump card is Fijian’s themselves I mean you know we've been just through a process where we just appointed a new global agency and we you know you have a look at you know your Hawaii’s and Tahiti’s and so on around the world Caribbean etc and you know of course lots of beautiful islands you know white sand clear water palm trees etc which Fiji has of course so you look at all those kinds of things and you say well okay you know there's a lot of choice so why would somebody choose Fiji and I think I think it very much is that culture thing I mean one of the things that's been proven you know even after everything that Fiji has gone through is you know how grateful we are to have tourists here how welcoming we are tourist Fiji is known as being the happiest place on earth and happiness is in our DNA I think that's always going to be a part of our message you know our reopening message was open for happiness which is a very simple tagline but it's very true so I think for a lot of people in Australia new Zealand it was certainly the what we call near but far so they felt like you know they were going overseas they were they were you know the weather's different the culture's different but it wasn't that far away that you know something went pear-shaped they could get back pretty quickly so that that side of things has been really good but yeah slowly but surely as we get the long-haul travel back I think it's you know Fiji’s got that real bucket list premium you know positioning in in the market and that's helped by a lot of things you know people see Fiji water cpg airways et cetera and they know that's a sort of thing called this bucket list destination so our job is just to say yeah it's back at least but it's really doable you can you can't actually get here it's not too bad and of course that it's accessible and you know that's an important part of it you've got connectivity to the major Australian markets and Fiji airways are operating to Singapore which is you know and will be again a major hub but how's the American market getting there I mean you say that that's bounced back strongly I mean it's a long way from the west coast and an even longer way from the east coast yeah look it is but I think you know it's point to point I mean so I think in that sense you know America is one of it one of the easiest markets to get to because from LA you know you jump on a flight in the evening in LA you know if you're lucky enough to be out the front of the plane and you know you have a rest overnight and you literally the plane arrives six in the morning ten hours later in Fiji so it's it like in terms of you know flying time connectivity whatever it's about as good as you can get so I think I think out of America it's very good we've also got a service out of san Francisco with Fiji airways and there's the occasional flight out of out of Honolulu and Fiji always is looking at certainly that north American market to continue to grow capacity there and looking at other ports so I wouldn't be surprised if before the years out we've got another port or two in in north America because I think that's where we can get some real growth I think Fiji’s awareness over there is very strong but it's just the how do I get their piece so you know certainly if Fiji airways is putting on more routes and more connectivity it starts to go from finches on my list one day it's bucket list it's this beautiful place in the south pacific to actually this is totally doable it's not that much further on from Hawaii let's go let's just do it yeah and I’m sure there are many people who have looked at it and thought one day I will and they will do how does how does the accommodation stock stack up in in that sort of context because you know if you're 38 a GDP major economic contributor it's really a very careful balance about how you build more accommodation stock or do you know have you got sufficient capacity in the market is seasonal enough that you can build on the shoulders or you you're going to have to put more accommodation in at some point yeah it's a great point john we just unveiled our corporate plan just in the last you know a few weeks and yeah we basically set a target out to the end of 2024 which is to have a million arrivals in a calendar year which puts us ahead of 2019 right so that's where we're aiming now to be honest when you look at having a million arrivals into Fiji which obviously means more arrivals than there are people in Fiji that will start to sort of hit a ceiling in terms of capacity in Fiji in terms of our accommodation so yeah the interesting thing for us going forward is how and where those new you know accommodation options come from and I think you know through the pandemic I think sustainability has become a bigger thing a really strong and important thing as it should be and what it's given us is the opportunity to just reset a little and I think what we'll see is that the product coming through has got more of that you know sustainability push at the very core of what we're about so I think that's a really good thing I feel that you know I think now you're starting to see corporates that are understanding hey you know you can't just go and whack a hotel up just anywhere and stick out like a sore thumb or whatever it has to be yeah far more integrated there's got to be plans to get about renewables and you know eliminating plastic et cetera et cetera and yeah certainly from our perspective it's a real strategic priority and we want to help out any of those projects that are coming through in terms of being as sustainable as they possibly can because I think that's the thing Fiji doesn't have a whole lot of high rise we don't have you know huge towers most of the resorts are very integrated into the environment we want to keep it that way and that I mean the whole thing about sustainability I mean it it's one of the things that's come back really strongly hasn't it the desire for travel but also to respect the planet and to be as sustainable as possible what have you have you seen that in the last in the first six months of reopening that there is a slightly different mindset in the travel traveller about sustainability or do they get on holiday and you know they just sadly forget about it for a while yeah no I like it it's definitely it's definitely there you know the surveys that we're doing it's sort of front and centre and what we see is the interesting thing is I think everybody understands that sustainability is a real hygiene factor in terms of like it's just expected but I feel like the difference for us and tourism is how do we connect tourists to the sustainability work that's being done in Fiji so our job at tourism Fiji and the way we see sustainability is that when people are choosing where to stay or choosing what to do and when they're here in Fiji we want them to know what they can do so whether or not that's adopting a manta ray or conserving mangroves or you know connecting with a village and doing sort of you know sea to plate or paddock to play that type of thing we want them to really understand what are the opportunities so we're really looking closely at that in terms of what we can do but I mean there's no going back now and there shouldn't be you know like if we have to push forward you know we've only got one planet we need to look after it and here in Fiji we're right at the front of climate change we have you know rising seas and you have variable weather patterns that we didn't used to have so there's things like that that we have to deal with so the only way that we can deal with it is just really knuckle down and invite everybody to play a role I guess ultimately there will be a finite market size for you won't there that that you reach and you know it won't be a million and I’m sure it will be more but what have you any idea what that finite sort of number is does the does the government have a number that they have in mind well I think to be honest if I looked at yeah because we've only done the planning and deliberately only did the planning out for two years if I look beyond that if we didn't add any more hotel stock you know you haven't actually got a whole lot more capacity I mean maybe 1.2 might be like you really tap out at that point in terms you'd be running very strong occupancy year-round right so from that perspective you know that there is actually a cap but you know there are some projects that that are starting up we've obviously got a few projects here where we've got renovations that are occurring or we've got you know product that was halted during the pandemic so you know we do need some of those projects to restart otherwise you know there will be you know a capacity a gap but I think one of the really good things john as well is this there's actually a lot of capacity where we you know we have a number of the name brand hotels like you know Sofitel Hilton intercontinental et cetera and some of these sort of hotels like you know Sofitel and Hilton have actually got capacity on their existing sites and are talking about adding you know another 60 rooms or another sort of villa complex to the to the actual ground so I think those kinds of things are really going to help us as well where we can just you know have some of the existing properties yeah expand a little bit yeah and I guess you can call that organic growth rather than new investment type sort of stuff you know they know the market they know the product they're not going to tarnish their own brand don't they that's good news you sit you know geographically a reasonable distance for from quite a few of your source markets but you've also got some of the world's largest outbound markets for tourism that are increasingly and tantalizingly in reach at some point aren't they places like china yeah and to a lesser degree japan where you know outbound tourism is already in decline are they are then I mean are they aspirational do you want a part of them or are they actually almost too big to handle no yeah so before coming you know Fiji airways was flying direct out of narita Hong Kong Singapore so it's a really strong Asian connection you know we're just starting to see you know Korea now did fly here at one stage I don't think that's coming back necessarily but I think the Korean market's an option but probably the one I’m most bullish about is china I think you know we saw china really rise as you know a lot of places did you know pre-pandemic day they had started to come here in pretty big numbers and they got to the point where they were the fourth largest source market for us in Fiji and I think you know the good thing is where I was in south Australia we did we did a really strong piece of work about being china ready so we worked with all of our operators we worked right across the industry for a good year to prepare every before a Chinese tourist boom and the kind of tourists we were targeting that high yield consumer and what we found that was so successful for us because we had you know direct flights in with china southern and we were getting the adventurous high spending sort of Chinese tourist who was willing to sort of get out there and experience the culture of where we were so I’d love to repeat something like that here in Fiji I think you know we've got we're not really cut out for huge volume in terms of those you know big volume group tourists but certainly the fib travel out of china that spends a lot of money that's looking for a slightly more up market we have you know properties that can absolutely fit their needs and so I think in that sense I’m pretty bullish about what we can do out of china it's not you know I’d call it mid-hall you know it's not as long as your European trips etc yeah so you know it's still a long flight but I think you know it's very doable and there's a lot here that that Chinese tourists are looking for and as you say I mean you know it is such a huge outbound market you can afford to play for the niche percentage share of great quality because even then it's a very large market it's that's right it's just so big I mean you have to look at Australia and oh gosh I can't remember exactly the number I think it was something like 120 flights plus per week were coming from china into Australia it was phenomenal yeah it was probably it was probably over served wasn't it if truth be told it was over served I mean there was the number of airlines coming in from cities that you know you'd almost never heard of it was quite extraordinary but I think in that sense you know here in Fiji you know it's never going to be like that but certainly you know we've got those bgoa flights from Hong Kong if they restart that'll be a great opportunity and then and then we'll see what comes from there but yeah like I said I think if we're getting that pre-independent traveller from china they're going to spend a lot of money like you know I was talking to only the other day some helicopter pilots who run you know these amazing sort of tour transfer helicopters over some of the islands and yeah made up about 85 of their business the guys would come down here we've got a few of those islands which luckily enough are shaped like hearts oh yeah so imagine you know Chinese tourists love getting out of naked and getting a photo you know get to land on the island and so on so we've got some things that we know that a Chinese tourist is going to love and we'll make sure we cater for that and you know we've got great food and all those kinds of things here that that a Chinese tourists need so I’m pretty bullish about it and the European market I mean the big seems to me one of the biggest outbound markets from Fiji is rugby league and union players coming over to Europe and playing for a couple of seasons but that's going to come back at some stage isn't it that outbound European market particularly from you know the uk and probably France as well yeah it is and I think I think that's a little bit of probably what we're experiencing here in the southern hemisphere in the sense of you know the first the first few trips that people from Europe are doing is you know in the EU kind of thing like you know people from uk going to Spain or going to Portugal or France or whatever at least they're trying to yeah and over time as they start to get more comfortable with tourism and protocols ease then I think people will feel more comfortable about going long haul so for example with Singapore you know the capacity out of Singapore we're up to two flights a week that'll keep growing as Singapore really starts to open up and of course you've got middle eastern markets which aren't served by Fiji airways but that's obviously a real connection point for Europe into Australia and new Zealand so that's real key for us I think now that Australia new Zealand are well and truly up and running and very much I can target in Europe I think Fiji can sort of tack onto that really comfortably and we've spoken at length about the aviation sector what about the cruise market yeah so cruise is actually the good news is we've got an announcement this week coming out crews we've been through a process there just to you know work out the protocols good thing is you know that should be relatively simple it's just you know going through a testing process before you disembark so we should see our first cruise ship around sort of late august September that's the plan at this stage so I’m pretty excited about that again looking at that market it felt like you know when I was in south Australia it was very well organized over there you know things were brought to the crews you know a strong volunteer market etc worked really well I think here in Fiji it was a little bit like while the cruise ships just come and things happen whereas you know what I’d love to do is actually put a little bit more planning around and you know I think I think that's the thing I think if you actually plan around you know crews coming you can actually do really well out of it and they can be very welcomed I think it's when it's just they're ad hoc and they're coming that's when you get the difficulties but I think look I think it's a strong market for us we're made for it the only drawback a little bit is as is common around the world you know the ports that the cruisers cruise ships go into are typically big city ports yeah and that's not real what the Fiji is known for so we have to get him in and then get him out into some of our surrounding areas I guess your helicopter pilots who've lost the Chinese market might be interested in some of that stuff exactly but yeah it's just all got to be set up I’m sure you can understand john you know I think if somebody just gets off a cruise button just wanders through a city you know your experience isn't going to be great whereas if you actually have a whole bunch of stuff set up for them and geared right from the get-go they're going to have a fan experience I mean we could talk for ages but brent you know we've only got so much time sadly what is what has been the thing that has surprised you know you you're obviously sitting in Adelaide getting very close to this job and were very successful and you know secured the position what was the thing that at that point you were you were thinking about when you actually got on the island you were surprised by what is the one thing that hasn't shot shocked you as such but you've been surprised by yeah I think like probably john I feel like it's probably been around the luxury side like I knew I knew Fiji as being very strong in the sort of resort hotel side you know had all their brand names etc but you know probably the thing that I’ve been amazed about since I’ve been here is like how world-class some of the product actually is you know like some of our products like Como lothala kokomo royal tabooy vomo you know some of these types of island you know properties I mean you could stack them up against anywhere in the world you know they're just so beautiful the investment that's been made into them is really strong so I think from our perspective we're really excited to you know get that out to the rest of the world you know Australians are discovering that again I think Australians sort of thought oh if I want a luxury you know island top experience I’ll go to the Maldives or Caribbean and what we're seeing is Australian and kiwi luxury travellers is really starting to discover Fiji so certainly for my perspective it's been one of the very nice parts of my role has been you know to get out and see some of this product and it just is phenomenal I mean kokomo you know Carmella tala the ones that I mentioned they're absolutely world-class and you know that the food is great I definitely think that the thing in the past the knock on Fiji probably 10 15 years ago was around food I think that's a thing of the past you know covid's been actually really good because you know we've had a lot of chefs out of work so they've gone and honed their craft back in their villages rediscovered all these local ingredients and understand all that sort of paddock to play ocean to play type stuff so that's probably been the most surprising thing for me and you know it's yeah look it's been great I feel like yeah there's so much that we've got to offer and from south Australia what's the one thing you miss is it is it south Australian wines regularly beating English teams in any type of sport or just the big city type sort of environment that you or moderate-sized city environment you have in Australia yeah look you pretty much nailed it I mean when I went back to Australia after being here very intensely for sort of six months you know it gosh you know going back to Australia it certainly feels like you know it is huge and it's the land of plenty in Australia and I went to I’m an Australian football fan so I went to a game you know 50 000 people that that felt pretty awesome wow those big red wines certainly you know I miss that because obviously here it's more gin and tonic and champagne is the sort of cocktails you know that type of thing so yeah there's always a little bit of give and taken but the good thing is it's not that far if I want to get my sort of Sydney fix and go and see big band or or a big you know sporting match or something or other I just hop on a plane and get over there brent it sounds to me that not only did you win the lottery but you threw the ticket away for everyone else welter well done lucky you it's been an absolute pleasure having a chat with you and I wish you future success in what you're doing if you ever need anyone to come from Europe and the uk to sample the product then give me a shout and I’m sure I can turn up in a rowing boat at some point I’ve done look we love we love having people come over and discover Fijian and go back and you know we just know that people are going to love it so you're very more than welcome john thanks matt very much indeed brent good to speak to you
2022-07-24 09:11
