Fiji’s Opening month Blows Bali’s Out of the Water: 84,000 to 2

Fiji and Bali are both open. But one country is running laps around the other with regards to its “new normal” numbers of tourists. When Bali opened in October, the carpet rolled out for a grand total of two visitors. When Fiji re-opened its border this past December, they welcomed 84,000 –– What went so right for Fiji?

Fijian tourism had a strategy.

• Reliance on high vaccination numbers and a convenient “quarantine” strategy attracted visitors to Fiji by the thousands.
• Bali’s rigid system of border entry and low vaccine numbers have kept visitors away.

Fiji’s tourism industry had been lying-in-wait for months. Expectations of a “Bula Bubble” with Australia and New Zealand sparked intense interest in regional travel as far back as mid-2020, leading hotels to become early adopters of COVID safety measures. Fiji also broke speed records in vaccinating its population –– 92% are now fully immunised.

Bali’s vaccination rate has been laggard. And its tourism sector has been slow to adopt industry best practices with regards to COVID safety.

For the sake of the tens of thousands of Indonesians who rely on tourism dollars, Fijian Insight hopes their numbers start to climb up soon. In the meantime, kuddos to our tourism sector (and to the government of the day) for readying Fiji for a successful re-opening.