Fiji Airways swings deal to put golf on the radar

NADI-FIJI – Vijay Singh of Fiji in action during the final round of the Fiji International at the Natadola Bay Championship Golf Course, Nadi Fiji, Sunday, August 17, 2014 .The US$ 1 million tournament is part of the OneAsia circuit. Picture by Paul Lakatos/OneAsia.

With golfers spending three times as much as the average tourist, it’s no wonder Fiji wants to be considered as a serious golfing destination. There’s only one hurdle – nobody knows about it.

Fiji Airways has signed on as the official airline of the Fiji International tournament in a three-year platinum sponsorship deal, complimenting the Fijian government’s investment of F$8.6 million into the tournament.

Announced at FTE 2015 this morning, Fiji Airways executive general manager, sales & marketing, Otto Gergye said the move would enable the airline to showcase its product across its core markets of Australia, New Zealand, Asia and the USA, coincidentally also those with a keen golfing audience.

“This is important for us. It will double, triple, quadruple what we could achieve with our marketing efforts alone,” Gergye told Travel Weekly.

“We see this as an investment in Fiji itself.”

“People will get on a plane to go somewhere to play golf. This will attract a lot of tourists that we wouldn’t have had any access to. A footprint for a small airline on an international scale, to be beamed across the world,” Gergye said.

With golf tourism one of the fastest growing markets in the world, Fiji has been keen to tap into the lucrative sector over the years. The tournament to be held in Natadola Bay championship golf course will run between 15-18 October and follows a 5-year agreement between the PGA of Australia and Fijian government signed in April 2014, at the time marking the first-ever internationally sanctioned golf tournament to be hosted in Fiji.

According to Fiji International event manager, Harmony Thomas, golfers travelling to Fiji spend on average FJ$3000 per person during a stay in Fiji, equating to three times as much as a regular tourist.

“We would therefore have to attract 3 times as many tourists to match the spend derived from one golfer,” Thomas told Travel Weekly.

Thomas said feedback received after attending a golf convention earlier this year was primarily one of surprise, with attendees not associating Fiji as a golfing destination.

“The feedback from all golf buyers was that they were surprised that golf product existed in Fiji. In the following years, we expect to see big returns from golf tourism,” Thomas said.

According to Tourism Minister, Faiaz Koya, Fiji international and Fiji Tourism brands combined generated a gross media value of close to FJ$20M.

“This can be translated as a return on investment by the Fiji government of approximately 64%,” he said.

Koya said the biggest coup would be the international exposure with the tournament expected to be broadcast to over 400 million people across 27 countries.

In addition, marketing deals signed with tournament partners such as Flight Centre is expected to have an exposure of an additional 2 million people. Total television coverage equates to 462 hours, 46% will be televised live.

“We will showcase some of the experiences that maybe they [visitors] didn’t associate with Fiji,” Koya said.

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