Tourism Fiji recently hosted ten travel advisors on its annual ‘Matai’ agent Fijian famil, with the group treated to some of the best experiences the South Pacific paradise has to offer.
All gold-level Matai agents, the lucky (or rather most skilled?) participants were the top ten advisors in terms of bookings to Fiji.
Escorted by Tourism Fiji Trade Relations Manager Juliet Miall, the first famil group stayed at the Hilton Fiji Beach Resort and Spa, Likuliku Lagoon Resort, Malolo Island Resort and Six Senses Fiji before enjoying a three-night cruise on board Captain Cook Cruises Fiji’s recently launched MS Caledonian Sky.
Meanwhile, group two overnighted at Fiji Gateway Hotel, Jean-Michel Cousteau Resort Fiji, Koro Sun Resort and Nukubati Island. Hosted by Tourism Fiji Trade Partnerships Manager Sally-Ann Rogers, the group took part in a variety of adventure activities including diving, snorkelling, sailing, trekking and visiting waterfalls.
How to take part in 2024
If you want to join in the fun of the next Matai famil, you’ll need to become a Matai agent (if you’re not already part of the program).
“A Matai Specialist is someone who is engaged with our Matai Specialist Learning Programme. They have completed all the courses and logged their bookings.” Miall tells Karryon.
“You can be a Matai Specialist without logging your bookings, but there are benefits of logging your bookings – among which is becoming a Gold Matai agent and the benefits that come with that.”
Famil participants must be Silver Matai specialists.
“Once they are Silver, not only are they allowed to have their name published on our consumer site for consumers to find, but they are also able to log every booking they make into the Matai Specialist programme,” Miall says.
“The more bookings they add, the more chance they have of being one of the top ten sellers. You may be selling a lot of Fiji, but you will not be selected if you are not logging your bookings.”
For anyone selling Fiji, Niall says “the Matai site is full of great information for agents – particularly the news section, which we updated daily during Cyclone Mal”.
“It’s a valuable source of general and current information, plus offers lots of modules to learn for regions, activities, properties and more,” she adds.
“Also, you will not be included in anything that Tourism Fiji does unless you are a Silver agent. For example, the Australia and New Zealand conference in March 2024 will only be open to Silver agents.”
Breaking records
Travel to Fiji from Australia is going through the roof. According to Tourism Fiji, Aussie visitor arrivals have surpassed pre-pandemic levels for 14 consecutive months (to October 2023).
For October, overall international visitor arrivals were 83,030, which was 107 per cent higher than the same month in 2019. The average hotel occupancy was a healthy 81 per cent.
For more information on the Tourism Fiji Matai program, click here.
In October 2023, Fiji became the first nation in EarthCheck’s Leading Destinations of the World program.