Responding to crisis is nothing new to Brent Hill. Many who follow closely the tremendous effort undertaken by the Fijian tourism sector to bounce back after two years of being hard-hit with COVID-19 would have noticed this lanky Australian man working behind the scene with major tourism stakeholders to ensure a safe recovery.
It was on this very day a year ago that the news came to his South Australian home that he was to take up the chief executive post at Tourism Fiji. Arriving in Nadi in the midst of the COVID-19 crisis was a challenge in itself for Mr Hill and his wife Kel.
“I guess the main thing was coming from South Australia, I had been through two really difficult times in terms of bushfires, which was a real challenge and then immediately followed by the first waves of COVID,” Mr Hill shared.
“So in both of those things I had experience how to actually respond to a crisis in terms of pivoting a business and changing the business etc, to try and keep things going.
“Once the opportunity came up to come across to Fiji, I was able to really draw on that experience and I think in that sense, I came across very much with my eyes wide open.”
Mr Hill said he knew what he was getting into coming to Fiji, however, did not realise the full extent of how difficult it was going to be and at the same time the government was really clear about getting the borders open by December 1.
He kicked off work after two weeks of quarantine on Denarau Island and was motivated everyday by the fact that so many people rely on this industry. “It’s been an amazing ride. “I feel really proud of our tourism industry and where we’re at today.
“It’s not been easy, there have been some really difficult times that we push through but I feel a real sense of pride in what we’ve been able to achieve together for Fiji.”
He explained the government was incredible in the industry’s recovery effort and gave them every support possible in the lead-up to border reopening.
They worked closely with major stakeholders like Fiji Airways and the Health Ministry to ensure every health protocol was followed and maintained while the national airline was 100 per cent committed to opening.
While being up for the challenge, he also utilised the past 11 months getting the views of local tourism properties- both the major, medium and small players, to see how they could all benefit from borders reopening again.
Borders reopening
So it was a very special day, when December finally came around.
Mr Hill shed a few tears with hundreds of Fijian tourism workers who had waited eagerly for the day they would get back to what they love doing. The Tourism Fiji CEO shared how they had worked tirelessly to get to that point and everybody was really committed to that.
see locals welcoming tourists again, considering that time was
tough over the last two years. Picture: BALJEET SINGH
“When borders opened last year, it was a really emotional time. I think I still feel that today.
“I still feel the emotion of that time because in Fiji, you know, 38 per cent of our economy is tourism dependent. “And I think that was one of the things, I’ve said before, it’s very easy to be motivated every day knowing that so many people rely on this industry.”
In the past 11 months, he has spoken to so many people around Fiji that have been just so grateful that they have their jobs back again.
He said it was just a wonderful thing to see locals welcoming tourists again, considering that time was tough over the last two years.
He explained the reports from tourists who have gone back home again shared “they’ve been welcomed like never before.”
“That’s a really special thing that is so unique to Fiji like, that’s true resilience and a deep understanding of what it means to be happy and to live life. “You know, Fijians just have this amazing ability to bounce
back and it’s a beautiful thing.”
The journey on
Prior to border reopening, stakeholders worked out the logistics of how they could actually make things happen.
There were a number of restrictions that were in place for obvious reasons and hotels were informed to do extraordinary stuffs instead of just the normal Bula welcome for tourists.
Mr Hill shared how hotel staffs who were normally used to just treating guests had to start taking swabs besides following all other mandatory COVID protocols.
“And, you know, we just didn’t have anybody who said, I’m not prepared to do that and that was remarkable. Like, you know, I still look back on that.
“If we had a lot of people that had been angst about that and just said, you know, we’re not going to conform to this or whatever we would never have been able to open.
“But it was just a team effort right across the board.”
He explained everyone recognized that the Care Fiji Commitment was their pathway to recovery and he could not be so proud of that collective approach undertaken to enable the sector to be where it is today.
Receiving unwavering support from the government has been the icing on the cake for Mr Hill and his team in terms of marketing and placing Fiji again on the international tourism market.
He said Fiji had been an example really to the world which is quite amazing for a country of our size.
He explained that there had been so many people looking to Fiji for “how we did it and how we’ve executed it so well, and I think that’s because we had a real team approach.”
He said everyone was the key decision makers.
“From my perspective, it was such an overwhelming relief to some degree that I could work so closely with decision makers in Fiji.
“I wasn’t so much used to that previously.
“So, you know, coming here, you know, Dr Fong and I were like talking many, many times a day and the Border Health Protection Unit and Fantasha and her team at the Fiji Hotel and Tourism Association who is a great partner as well.”
He said that they got whatever they needed and were given the support they longed for to get Fiji’s tourism industry back on its feet.
Mr Hill said he noticed that there was always that desire to balance safety with the economy and Fiji just got them right.
He said this was a tremendous example of key decision makers working together.
“I feel so proud that people today around the world are looking at what Fiji did as a small island nation that we can feel really proud of our response because there are a lot of countries that are very envious of the success that we’ve had
“We had really good numbers of people coming through.
‘But, you know, we were really stretched when it came to a global worldwide shortage of consumables, PCR kits and so on, we had lots of countries around the world ordering millions and millions of test kits, etc, which meant that there was this big shortage.
“We were heavily reliant on working with our medical partners; we were literally on the ground, physically, literally helping them in their operations just to make sure that we could get through.”
Just as borders reopened, Omicron hit and Tropical Cyclone Cody brought with it enormous flooding in the Western Division.
This followed through with the gigantic volcanic eruption in Tonga and Mr Hill sat in his Nadi home thinking how an industry that had just recovered from COVID got hit back again with these
disasters.
“Through all this, the stories that I have to tell are, we just found a way we found a way.
“We’ve got these amazing images of tourists on the back of fire trucks going through floodwater and locals who had nothing to do with the tourism industry volunteering to take people’s bags through floodwater and move them down to the airport to get on the plane.
“They said yeah, I’ll make this happen. You know, we had transport providers, we had the airlines, we had hotels, and everyone was doing what they needed to do to keep the thing going and it’s remarkable.
“It is one of the true truly remarkable stories.”
The Tourism Fiji CEO also acknowledged
the Fijian Tourism Expo as providing a precise platform for international buyers to witness what Fiji had to offer to its international markets.
For Mr Hill personally, shedding tears with Fijians and journeying with them to Fiji’s tourism recovery is a risk worth taking.
From arriving into a deserted Nadi Town to witnessing the smiles of locals a year after, Mr Hill is privileged to have played a major role in getting the local tourism sector back on its feet.
