Fiji tempts the big spenders
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Effective 01 February 2010 visitors to Fiji spending more than FJD500.00 in one day in selected tourism outlets in Fiji’s main towns of Suva and Nadi will be entitled to claim a 12 per cent refund from the country’s customs authorities on departure.Announced by Fiji’s interim Prime Minister Voreqe Bainimarama last week, the new scheme is seem as a boon for international visitors. To date more than 42 registered outlets have joined in the scheme in both Nadi and Suva with many more expected to come online following the PM’s announcement.The system is very simple to use. To qualify a tourist must spend FJD500 or more on the same day at any one of the 42 designated outlets and take the goods out of Fiji within two months from date of purchase.Visitors must present their purchases along with a VAT refund form, the original tax invoice, their passports and international boarding pass/cruise ship boarding pass at special desks being set up in both pre and post check-in areas in Nadi International Airport and on board all cruise ships entering Suva Harbor.Tourism Fiji CEO Josefa Tuamoto described the decision as a timely windfall for the destination’s tourism-related retail industry.”There were some pockets within the international travel industry that had implied the destination was becoming over priced,” he said. “The introduction of the new VAT refund scheme in conjunction with the devaluation of the FJD last year provides travelers with a huge incentive to visit our islands in 2010.”*The Reserve Bank of Fiji devalued the Fiji dollar by 20 per cent against all major currencies in April, 2009.The move will see the Specialist Division migrating to a CreatorMail digital eCRM platform for customer interaction and sales promotion. The tailored software solution will allow the generation of personalised mailings responding to customers’ online behaviour that drive holiday promotions and sales. Mark Brennan, managing director, CreatorMail, said: “We are delighted to have expanded our relationship with TUI. Consolidating its email marketing service will deliver greater efficiencies across the business and leverage best practice. We have demonstrated the tangible benefits of our service and aim to replicate this success with the new holiday brands.”CreatorMail has been successful in helping TUI to deliver incremental sales and promote repeat purchases. Using consumer analytics, ‘in programme’ consumer behaviour is used to influence next holiday purchases. Liz Hawkins, Thomson TUI (UK), said: “The consolidation of our online and email services with CreatorMail will bring many benefits to the business by allowing a consistent picture of consumer interaction to be made and a more coherent data strategy to be achieved across all the travel brands.”
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