Encouraging Results from the China Early Bird Promotion Campaign

Tourism Fiji in partnership with Fijian tourism industry partners launched an early bird promotion campaign "Buy now, experience later" throughout June and July for travellers to book long-lead, open-dated and fully flexible Fiji holidays.  

The campaign generated encouraging results, with more than 437 packages sold, 1,748 room nights pre-booked for Fiji properties and over a million Fiji dollars pre-booking revenue.

Source: Tourism Fiji

Tourism Fiji chief executive officer, Mr. Matthew Stoeckel said: “Whilst borders are not yet open, through this campaign we were still able to secure significant bookings. The uptake of the campaign is an encouraging indicator for how the market may further respond when borders are once again open. ”

“The success of the early bird promotion can be put down to the support of our local industry partners, who provided competitive offers for the campaign, and the effort of our China team to bring it all together through a comprehensive trade and consumer campaign” Mr. Stoeckel added. 

In response to Covid-19 Tourism Fiji adopted an innovative approach for the early-bird promotional campaign that included leveraging digital channels such as: live stream, influencer’s endorsement, social and digital promotion, and agents webinar.

Tourism Fiji Regional Manager in Greater China, Mr. Vincent Zheng said, "This campaign wouldn’t be possible without the strong support from Fiji industry partners, China trade and media partners. The campaign will also further enhance Fiji's core competitiveness and brand influence in the China market as a top and premier holiday destination. "

Commenting on China's early bird promotion campaign, Director of Sales and Marketing of Kokomo Private Island Fiji, Ms. Louise Smythe said: “During these unprecedented times we are committed to working alongside Tourism Fiji on specific initiatives. The Chinese market is important to Fiji and long term we look forward to welcoming back this market when the borders are open. The recent presale campaign has been a successful collaboration and we look forward to continuing this partnership in the future.”

Director of Sales and Marketing of Intercontinental Fiji Golf Resort & Spa, Mr. Hudson Mitchell also commented: "The promotions put together by Tourism Fiji helped our resort re-establish itself. We have all the components for what Chinese travellers are looking for. From the best beach in Fiji to spacious luxury rooms, banquet meals, and Chinese speaking guest coordinators, we are focused on meeting the needs of our Chinese guests with attention to detail that will allow for an amazing and memorable holiday in Fiji. We can't wait to welcome Chinese guests back to our Resort after Covid-19 ends."

In response to Fiji’s early bird promotion campaign, Deputy General Manager of Sichuan Chuanlv Travel Agency Co., Ltd., Mr. Liu Wei expressed: “We appreciate Tourism Fiji’s efforts to help us navigate through these challenging times amid Covid-19. The leadership and guidance put together by Tourism Fiji are extremely valuable to us. Tourism Fiji is one of very few National Tourist Offices that can bring all partners together amid Covid-19. We’ve celebrated very fruitful sales results on Fiji’s early bird promotion campaign. It helps us continue our business and maintain our staff that matters to dozens of families livelihoods.”

“Tourism Fiji has been extremely active in the China market for the last two years since they established their standalone office in Shanghai. Although we don't have a non-stop flight from mainland China to Fiji, Fiji has surpassed some of the island destinations, which has non-stop flights, to become the top 3 island destination in the market in terms of market share. We believe Fiji will be welcomed by Chinese travellers again once we’re able to travel internationally.” Mr. Liu extended. 

CN Travel Group chief executive officer, Mr. Feng Muqing said: “We’re thrilled to work with Tourism Fiji and Fijian tourism industry partners to launch this early bird promotion campaign with attractive Fiji hotel products in China market. As we expected, the results are very strong. Our customers like the way of how Fiji position and promote their products. We look forward to the further partnership with Tourism Fiji and Fijian partners to welcome our customers to Fiji once the borders reopen.”