Fiji’s Tourist

[?]oom Is Away

„ a From a Suva correspondent There are indications that •y • a. * ™ *U O 1 s tourist traffic, as me result skilful propaganda and de opment in very recent years, 1 soon become Fiji’s second

■ . . J That

lustry -next to sugar. A f; ai 1 be quite an achievement, be

ise Fiji’s second industry

}pra production) and third in f z ii

Stry (gold production) are

)stantial money-makers.

[ONEY brought into the country by tourists in recent times is be ien <£F 1,000,000 and <£F2,000,000 ear; and Suva’s Mayor, Mr. Charles ison, who is one of the driving ces behind the organisation of rism, is confident that the gross ome from tourism this year will £F2,000,000. That puts it close to d production (which may exceed

£F2,000,000 in the current year) and chasing copra production.

A necessary corollary of tourist development is the provision of modern hotels; and in that respect Fiji has made remarkable progress.

There are now several modem hotels in Fiji. In their order of seniority of age, they are the Grand p ac ifi c Hotel, in Suva; the Korolevu Beach Hotel, at Korolevu; the Club Hotel, in Suva; the modernised Lautoka Hotel, in Lautoka; the Cathay Hotel, at Lautoka; the Mocambo Hotel, at Nadi; the Sky Lodge, at Nadi; the Suva Hotel, at Suva—all carrying modern equipment i n the shape of air-conditioning, bedrooms with private baths, firstdass restaU rants, etc.

And there are the Beachcomber Hotel, Deuba, sold by Northern Hotels Ltd. to a new company and brought to first-class tourist standard; the wellequipped and managed country hotels owned by Northern Hotels Ltd. at Nadi, Ba, Tavua, and Raki Raki; and some good commercial hotels, like the Garrick and Metropole, in Suva, and the Labasa and Savu Savu Hotels, in Vanua Levu. All now cater for tourists.

A modern hotel (Reef Lodge) was opened recently by a New Zealand group on the Korotogo coast—the time for the opening ceremony un fortunately fell directly into the middle of Fiji’s recent phenomenal rain and floods. This originally was a beautiful lagoon-side bungalow built for his own use by Mr. Barry Philp (builder of the Mocambo Hotel at Nadi) and the hotel was cleverly planned and built by Philp interests to include the bungalow and swim ming-pool. The buyers are part of the group which runs the well-known Hamner Springs resort in North Canterbury, NZ; and, as their lavishly-equipped Fiji hotel becomes known, they should get a fair share of the first-class tourist traffic.

The hotels now catering effectively for Fiji’s tourist traffic fall roughly into three groups, These are the old-established Northern Hotels Ltd. (a Ragg family concern, managed since the death of Sir Hugh Ragg by his son, Mr. D. P.

Ragg) which runs the Korolevu Beach and Club Hotels; the Cathay interests, from Singapore, who bought and en larged and modernised the Grand Pacific Hotel (built in 1908), and built

he new Cathay Hotel at Lautoka; nd an American group, headed by Ir. George Wilson, who have made resounding success of the Mocambo lotel, at Nadi, which they bought rom Mr. Barry Philp, and who are ow engaged in an interesting new roject on the Korotogo coast.

Another Resort Planned This latest George Wilson project ould be an interesting addition to ■iji’s tourist facilities. At Cuvu, a ittle distance from the Queen’s Road, bout five miles on the Nadi side of ligatoka, there is a charming little nlet with a good beach and a large Teen island immediately off-shore, lere, for a long time, the sugar com ►any’s staff have gone for rest and ecuperation, and there is a group of ottages there. The Wilson interests iave bought or leased the island and iow are proceeding with the building if a causeway from a point near the :SR resort to the island to provide ccesfi for the heavy equipment and »uilding materials needed for convert ng the island into a first-class tourist esort. The work may take the better >art of two years, but when it is :ompleted, and if it is run with the mergy and ingenuity displayed at the tfocambo Hotel, it could join the dd-established Korolevu Beach Hotel, md the new Reef Lodge in providing nemorable entertainment for over leas visitors.

There has been much talk of other ourist resort projects; but nothing is aking shape at the moment except an mterprise now being carried out by he Reddy Construction organisation, >n behalf of a group of Indian busi lessmen, on a hill-top near the Vlocambo Hotel, and overlooking the airport.

It is reported that the Indian group will establish, in this very fine location with a 360 degrees view over the Sfadi plains, a hotel-motel type of re sort.

New Nadi Plan Among the new projects still to take shape is a modern hotel con templated by a group of Canadian businessmen headed by New Zealand born Mr. D. W. Samuel, who is a Canadian citizen. It was Mr. Samuel and some associates who bought the Beachcomber at Deuba.

Using a new company, Pacific Hotels Limited, they plan to build a hotel costing ££240,000 at Nadi Bay, according to an official Gov ernment announcement in late May.

It was also reported that they plan to acquire the property at ludu, known as Trade Winds Bay, which Mr. Barry Philp started to develop.

After he sold his Korotogo establishment to the New Zealand group, Mr. Philp moved his equipment to this charming bay on the coast between Korotogo and the Korolevu Beach Hotel, and announced that he would build a tourist resort on a considerable area of land he had acquired there.

At that stage the main road ran close to the beach; so the Government co-operated with Mr. Philp in his plan by closing the old road, and building a new sealed road a little distance inland.. As a result, there is a fine area of land now between the

road and the beach, which could be developed for holiday cottages, a hotel, or motel.

Mr. Philp was recently in terested in building a hotel at Dunk Island, Queensland, for an Australian promoter.

The Fiji picture is one of growing enterprise and apparently sound plan ning, and all concerned seem con fident that the long-awaited tourist boom is on, and will expand, It is a good example of what can be done by private enterprise under Government encouragement and pro tection.