YANUCA ISLAND, Fiji (July 31, 2000 -Honolulu Star-Bulletin)---The local women
wade from the beach across the narrow strait to the mainland,
breaking into harmony as they drag their nets of shells and crabs, some swimming
with slow, easy strokes when the water, shimmering gold and
crimson from the sunset, reaches chest high.
No tourists witness this perfect moment. The chaise lounges by the pricey private
bungalows known as ‘bure’ sit empty, as do entire wings of the
436-room Shangri-La’s Fijian Resort during what should be the prime weeks
of high season.
Fiji, a South Pacific archipelago described as "paradise" in brochure
after brochure, is suffering ? not from the typhoons that are the usual hazard,
but from a prolonged political crisis that has set the tourism industry back
by years.
Want a great deal? This is the place. But Australia, New Zealand and the United
States have advised their citizens to stay away out of concerns that a
recent wave of civil disturbances could begin anew at any time. Hotels report
occupancy rates in single-figure percentages.
"We have 109 acres, and when we’re 80 percent full, it can still
look empty," said Wolf-Dieter Flecker, general manager of the Fijian Resort.
"You
can imagine what it’s like in the single digits."
Some resorts closed right after the May 19 coup led by rebel leader George
Speight. Others struggled along, selling the fact that two coups in 1987
did not touch the resorts because of an unwritten hands-off policy toward tourists.
It looked like just another internal political affair again this time.
But the crisis dragged on, with Speight and his men holding the Prime Minister
and other legislators hostage in Parliament for nearly two months.
Largely peaceful civil disturbances broke out in early July; orchestrated by
Speight and his backers to bolster their stated cause of guaranteeing the
rights of indigenous Fijians take precedence over those of ethnic Indians.
The takeover of the hydroelectric power dam has left the main island of Vanua
Levu dependent on expensive diesel turbines. Protesters took over a
military barracks and began occupying police stations.
Then, everything took a strong turn for the worst on July 12.
It was "Children’s Week" at Turtle Island, one of the tiniest
resorts, where "bure" go for up to $1,000 a night. Its perfect beaches
had drawn film
crews here to film both versions of the movie "Blue Lagoon." American
Richard Evanson bought the island in 1972 and turned it into a five-star
destination. About 40 Americans, Australians, New Zealanders and Britons were
staying there, including a dozen kids, when the armed men from a
nearby island came ashore and told them to stay inside, claiming the island
belonged to them.
The tourists were allowed to leave the next day. Evanson was kept until he
negotiated a deal to pay for distress caused to the locals, even though they
admitted Evanson had bought the land properly. But the damage was done, and
three other resorts were taken over the next day.
Thousands of Americans normally arrive every week for honeymoons or other vacations,
primarily on the northern island of Viti Levu or the islets
off its coasts. Viti Levu has seen its share of the recent unrest, with two
New Zealand pilots taken hostage Thursday.
Though no tourists were involved, word of the wave of occupations got worldwide
exposure.
The Tourism Action Group, largely funded by the hotels, plans to launch a multimillion-dollar
tourism campaign once the crisis is finally settled.
But the general consensus is that the fallout will be worse and longer than
two years than from the 1987 coups.
More than 1,000 people already have lost their tourism jobs; many others are
scraping by on reduced shifts. International sanctions have begun and
are likely to keep hitting Fiji unless it makes moves to restore democracy.
The Fijian Resort normally would have added 150-180 seasonal workers to its
441 permanent staff. None were hired this year, and the regular
staffers were cut back in late July to 24-hour weeks.
Just about the only guests are regular visitors to the family-oriented resort.
The Japanese, who normally make up 14 percent of the resort’s occupants,
stopped coming the day of the coup, Flecker said. A few Australians and
a handful of New Zealanders and Europeans are the sole residents.
"Once we get out of the news, it will help," Flecker said.
The long crisis has been a boom for one hotel, the Centra. Its location just
on the edge of downtown Suva, the capital, drew the dozens of foreign
journalists who flocked to Fiji on near-empty flights as tourists fled on full
ones.
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