از بین بردن شکاف دیجیتال برای اپراتورهای تور و فعالیت SME در Savusavu

A recent E-marketing support workshop conducted in the idyllic town of Savusavu in Vanua Levu, Fiji’s second largest island, has opened up a world of opportunities for a few Small and Micro-Enterpri

A recent E-marketing support workshop conducted in the idyllic town of Savusavu in Vanua Levu, Fiji’s second largest island, has opened up a world of opportunities for a few Small and Micro-Enterprise (SME) activity and tour operators mostly operating out of their villages in the far reaches of the provinces of Bua and Cakaudrove.

The workshop was conducted by the South Pacific Tourism Organisation’s (SPTO) in collaboration with the Fijian Ministry of Tourism under the auspices of the Pacific Regional Tourism and Capacity Building Programme (PRTCBP) funded through the European Union.

Participants were identified as SME tour and activity operators who had little to no e-footprint via websites or e-marketing.

The aim of the workshop is to create websites with proper booking widgets for these SME’s, to assist them with their online marketing and to ultimately increase tourist bookings to their tours and activities.

Peni Ore of the Namena Marine Conservation Park, Kubulau in the Bua Province, says whilst their tour has been operating for a number of years, they have not been able to tap into the high influx of tourists that visit their province.

“The workshop has been very enlightening for us. We’ve discussed these kinds of options for our tour but we didn’t have the means and were sometimes discouraged. What we as the Kubulau Business Development committee, which was established by our Chiefs to help our communities, have been discussing is being offered to us, in terms of online marketing. I think the opportunity is now.”

“I have been involved in this community project for four years, this assistance is huge”, he continued.

Sakiusa Cama, of Vuadomo Village Tours and Activities in Cakaudrove says a website will increase visitors to their waterfall and village tours and will eventually contribute to their scholarship fund for their children.

“We are very happy with this assistance because we want more visitors to visit our waterfall and village tours. We currently have a scholarship fund to assist our children and we are confident that the money that we will receive from an increase in visitors because we will finally be online, will greatly assist our cause.”

SPTO Chief Executive Ilisoni Vuidreketi had earlier stated at the opening of the workshop that this training is a milestone for the Fijian tourism industry.

“We are pleased to be working in collaboration with the Fijian Ministry of Tourism to assist the smaller operators with online marketing and support. We are targeting smaller operators because these businesses are more closely tied to the communities and the benefits will go directly to the communities.”

Wilson Fabiano the coordinator of the Red Stone Dance Group from Vatudamu in Savusavu, says his dance group was created to encourage youths to make better use of their skills through dancing.

Wilson was alerted to the assistance offered by SPTO through a former participant of an E-Support workshop conducted for accommodation owners in 2013.

“We are really thankful for Margaret and Luigi (owners of La Dolce Vita Villas) to reach you guys to come out here and take pictures of our dancing to create our website”, Wilson stated.

“What we have been looking for we are now receiving with your help so that more people can know about our dance group and book us for their functions. We now know that we have broken through the wall and we are very grateful”.

The SPTO with consultants World Hotel Link conducted a one-day workshop before conducting field visits to gather content.

The field visits also gave the SPTO a chance to discuss the pros and cons of online marketing with the villagers to assist them to fully understand the assistance that is being provided to them.

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