Sunshine Coast students help Fiji tourism
Tue 27 November 2007
Carlos Robinson, Bachelor of Journalism
Sunshine Coast university students will use their marketing skills to help develop sustainable tourism in Fiji, in a trial of what could become a university course.
The students from the University of the Sunshine Coast (USC) will spend 10 days in Fiji from November 17, and will help a struggling business in the Fijian highlands gain visitors.
USC lecturer in tourism and marketing Gayle Mayes says most people who visit Fiji want to see the tropical beaches, rather than travel inland.
“This fellow that we’re going to visit is up in the highlands … so at the moment, he doesn’t have the drawcard that the other backpacker resorts have. He doesn’t have the beach … the coconut trees, and so on," Ms Mayes says.
“He doesn’t actually have anybody coming up to into his bures [huts] and his village.
“So what we’re going to do is assess what he does have and make suggestions about how to develop his resources … and opportunities that he might have in his mountain area.
“And I feel that through our knowledge and expertise, we could suggest a differentiation, a brand or image, a product or service, that his resort could offer…so people will hopefully go up to his village in the highlands.”
There are currently 10 students going, who are mostly marketing students, Ms Mayes says. However, she says the trip was designed so that any student can participate.
“The first students who go on it are our adventurous students who are willing to step out there and go where other students haven’t gone before.
“They’re also stepping outside their comfort zone, they’re applying their knowledge and their experience, and I think that it’s going to be a great for students to realise that even as students … they still have something to give to people.”
Mayes hopes this pilot trip can eventually become a regular expedition.
“The ultimate aim is to create this into a course which the students will eventually gain a credit for here at the university,” she says.
Mayes says she is “definitely concerned” about the political instability in Fiji, but believes “we’ll be safe”.
“One of the problems with Fiji is definitely its political instability, and it’s actually one of the things holding the country back for tourism development and for international investment,” she says.
Ms Mayes has been thinking of doing the trip for a few years.
She chose Fiji because she "felt there was an opportunity for myself and other people to perhaps go and help the Fijians in developing their tourism”.
Ms Mayes is passionate and excited about the expedition, and believes it’s “such a positive”.
“So the whole big picture is that the students gain, the university gains, and the person over in Fiji gains … so it’s a win-win for everybody,” she says.
Image(s) designed by sxc.hu 187474