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Source: Reuters -
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Tourists stayed away from Fiji in droves this summer, with a quarter of would-be visitors deterred by torrential rain and tighter purse strings.
Tourism Fiji chairman Patrick Wong predicts tourist numbers for the first quarter of 2009 will be down 25% on last year - a record drop.
Official January figures already showed numbers were down 28%, and Wong told The Fiji Times newspaper the situation had not improved since.
February and March, the traditional low season months, had also been hit by the global financial crisis, Wong said.
A tropical storm that hit in mid January, killing 11 people and destroying hundreds of homes and businesses, also deterred hundreds of potential summertime travellers from Australia and New Zealand.
The tourism board has launched a large-scale Australasian campaign to attract tourists.
It is hopeful Fiji will benefit from the Australian Government's stimulus package, with students in particular predicted to spend their bonuses on short haul holidays.
Wong said the Australian dollar was well placed against the Fijian dollar and the country was very competitively priced compared with its Pacific Island neighbours and South East Asia rivals.
Travel agents have aggressively targeted the market, releasing "stimulus specials" as the first wave of A$900 (NZ$1100) bonuses began hitting Australian bank accounts.
More than 210,000 Australians visited Fiji last year, accounting for more than a third of short-term arrivals.
