March 20, 2010

Fijian hospitality impresses visiting Japanese journos

Fiji Times - Saturday, March 20, 2010

THE hospitality of the people of Fiji have been deemed a striking feature by a group of visiting Japanese journalists.

The group of 11 journalists were brought to Fiji by Tourism Fiji and Continental Airlines to boost arrivals from Asia.

They represented nine media outlets from three cities in Japan - Kansai, Tokyo and Nagoya.

Continental Airlines' Director Corporate Communications Asia-Pacific Koji Nagata was group chaperone.

"We want to grow the number of Japanese travelling to Fiji from 20,000 to 40,000 or more annually," he said.

"These journalists were brought here to see for themselves the natural beauty of Fiji and its people. Collectively they have a readership of approximately four million people.

"They will go back and write about their experiences in their respective media and, hopefully, we will begin to see some positive results."

Mr Nagata said the journalists were first-timers to Fiji and were visibly impressed with the natural scenery and quality of hotel accommodation.

"But they all concurred that it was the hospitality of the people that was the most striking feature of the country," he said.

"Everywhere they went people were smiling, always eager to help and calling out bula, the hospitality of the Fijian people really made a positive impact on them."

Continental flies twice a week from Japan to Fiji via Guam.

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