MANA Island Resort and Spa is set on picking up a slice of the meetings and incentives business with the opening its new conference centre yesterday.
Sales manager Abdul Kalam said the initiative was aimed at capturing some of the prime meetings, incentives, conferencing and exhibitions (MICE) industry. He said the construction of the centre which was officially opened yesterday by Minister for Local Government Colonel Samuela Saumatua, followed reports of a steady growth of the MICE industry.
"It has grown from strength to strength over the years and we wanted to take advantage of that," said Mr Kalam. "With the opening of our conference centre, we wanted to attract more business clients to the resort. Many business clients hold their conferences here with the hopes to see Fiji too and that is what we offer here in Mana," said Mr Kalam. While opening the conference centre, Col. Saumatua said Mana Island Resort had stood the test of time since it began in 1972. "Our tourism industry had gone through some trying times in the past three decades. Some had fallen on the way. However, some had strived through and survived the tests of times.
"I must commend Mana Island Resort and Spa and all that had endured the test of times for the past decades, survived and prospered," said Col. Saumatua.
Meanwhile, the resort handed a $10,000 cheque to the Prime Minister's Flood Appeal Fund. The cheque is a percentage of the profits gained at the resort over the past month.