THE Attonery-General Aiyaz Sayed-Khaiyum has hailed the organisers of the Uprising Fiji International 7s for putting together a competitive tournament to attract visitors to our shores.
The Minister for Tourism said for many years, the linkage between rugby and tourism was overlooked.
Khaiyum said Tourism Fiji missed to draw some sort of synergy between rugby and tourism and how Fiji could use our rugby players to promote the country through sport.
He applauded the efforts of the Uprising 7s organising committee to host this year's event despite the shortcoming.
Meanwhile, participating teams were officially welcomed by Uprising 7s organising committee chairman Culden Kamea at the Northern Club in Lautoka last night.
Kamea thanked the sponsors for making the tournament possible.
He also hailed the effort of Lautoka City Council for a swift recovery after Tropical Cyclone Evan to host the tournament. The two-day event featuring 16 overseas and local teams starts today at Churchill Park.