2024 FICA Annual Congress | ‘Tourism here to stay, there is no alternative’

Tourism is here to stay, there is no alternative.

This was the comment made by former Reserve Bank of Fiji (RBF) governor and Unity Fiji party leader Savenaca Narube during the plenary session on ‘Alternative to Tourism’ at the Fiji Institute of Chartered Accountants (FICA) annual congress – 2024 yesterday.

He said there have been countless discussions made over the years on boosting alternative sectors to tourism but nothing has been realised.

“We have so many plans, too many plans. The problem is execution,” Mr Narube said.

“Tourism is here to stay and we need to continue to support it in whatever ways we can. I’m going to come from a practical realism point of view.

“I get the sense I’ve heard a lot of these things before. I’ve heard it a lot.

“Sugar has less than half of what we were producing before. No government has identified a long-term strategy. We see fisheries, all going down south. Agriculture used to be over 20 per cent of the GDP (gross domestic product). It’s now in single figures.

“One thing I want to emphasise, in the value chain of connecting agriculture and fisheries, it is the production level that we are missing.

“We cannot get the market if we are not producing.”

Mr Narube said an integrated solution was needed to bring all these plans to fruition.

“We need one program and a new one that goes with it from production right to marketing and I wish the Government would come up with that integrated solution.”