In the move to broaden the world's horizons about Fiji, a delegation recently attended the South Africa Boat Show and revealed more about what the country had to offer
Fiji's High Commissioner in South Africa, Beniamino Salacakau led his team of Fiji diplomats and family to a successful promotional outreach at the Johannesburg Boat and Dive Show in South Africa.
A press release by the Ministry of Foreign Affairs stated that Fiji's participation follows an invitation received last year and this was part of the High Commission's plan to raise Fiji's profile, increase its presence in the minds of travellers and those in the travel industry in South Africa and beyond.
Thousands of people visited the Fiji booth during the three days of the show with much curiosity about diving and surfing in Fiji. A couple who had been in Taveuni for a few years running the dive centre at Paradise Resort and are now running dive tours to the Caribbean spoke glowingly about Fiji being the best diving place in the world. Positive comments were also received from people about Pure Fiji products and a lot of inquiry about the boating vests produced by Performance Floatation Devices of Nabua.
The High Commissioner was also interviewed by local media outlets and the interview will be aired on South African Television later in the year.
The report stated Mr Salacakau and his team were pleasantly surprised to find Fiji being advertised at one of the other booths by a company called SY Siren. The company was promoting their sailing and diving packages that included Fiji especially Volivoli in Rakiraki, Lomaiviti and Taveuni.
"We can confidently state that our participation was immensely successful for its primary target to inform the people about Fiji. In fact it went far above our expectations, we are definite that there will be some spinoffs from our participation," said Mr Salacakau
"We must thank those who responded positively to our request for assistance for materials for our display. We thank in particular those who provided prizes for our competition, Air Pacific for the two return air tickets from Hong Kong to Fiji, Uprising Resort for the two nights' accommodation and Aqua Trek for the free dives. We also thank Pure Fiji for the gift packs. We thank Tourism Fiji for the support."
The mission intends to participate again next year. The Johannesburg Boat and Dive Show was into its 10th year. The show is where a wide range of service providers, vendors of a wide range of equipment and an assortment of businesses come together for three days. Not only is it about boats and diving but also about every activity related to water, be it water sports, fishing, swimming and everything one could think of.