Once again blogger Real Jack has put his finger on one of the key problems that Sayed-Khaiyum, our so-called Minister for Tourism, seems to know nothing about: our tourism brand has been damaged by the coups. Heavy discounting since 2006, have given us an image as the destination of choice for the lowest spending tourists from Aussie and NZ.

“the tourism sector is a discount one – there is no value in it beyond the cost of the hotel rooms and the food at the hotels.

now that we have added $FJD150 departure tax into the cost of coming to Fiji which triples the cost of coming to Fiji in comparison to what it costs elsewhere in the region, this is whats going to happen.

these tourists coming to Fiji pay for their hotel room, their departure taxes and their airline ticket.

over and above that they have no other money to spend. they have coaxed out. there’s no disposable income in their pockets to spend beyond what they have budgeted for.

this is different to whats happening in South Africa and places like that – where they attract high value tourists to do safari tracks and things like that. the value is a lot higher and their imprint is wider within the south african economy. in Europe its the same thing -with the tours of cities and historical sites and stuff like that.

here in Fiji the value is discount and the only imprint is within the fenced hotels. outside the fenced hotels we get no imprint. zero. zilch. sega bau. nai hai.”

Have we at last found out what Bole’s school zoning policy is all about? He’s warned school principals that they have to accept enrolments from any student within their zone. They’re not allowed to reject students because of low marks. Has the dimwit child of someone with regime connections been knocked back by the Principal of Marist? What Bole doesn’t seem to understand is that many school zones overlap, so Principals at top academic schools are entitled to say to the dim-wits that they should try some other school whose zone they’re in.

Following the plea in yesterday’s Australian newspaper for a bit of kiss-and-make-up from Inoke Kubuabola, Ms Information has hit the Australian airwaves, offering the prospect of Radio Australia again being allowed to broadcast its signal in Fiji airwaves. Could it be that the regime has done some sums and realises that our big traditional aid donors, who give real aid – grants, not loans – are too important to be pushed away for the sake of childish temper tantrums?

(Image courtesy Raw Fiji News)