South-pacific.travel Chief Executive Tony Everitt has welcomed announcement of a visa waiver for Chinese visitors to Fiji. "Rising incomes and increasing travel experience mean that sophisticated Chinese are ready for the South Pacific" said Everitt.

Everitt noted the importance of learning from the experience of other countries in developing Chinese tourism. The recent surge of low value Chinese tour groups in Australia and New Zealand for example is not what we want to see happen here. "South Pacific should develop the Chinese visitor market slowly and carefully, with a focus on quality visitor experiences. We should target the top end of the visitor market only. The visa-waiver creates an opportunity to develop the independent travelling Chinese segment for example. Chinese with a passion for special interests like diving, surfing, sailing, fishing, etc should be our target. These will be small in number initially but will grow quickly. Chinese honeymooners from wealthy families are another opportunity. These are growing quickly to the Maldives for example, and are paying top dollar."

Everitt advised the tourism industry here not to be persuaded to discount products especially for the Chinese market. "Incomes are growing rapidly in China. Discounting is not necessary. Once you go down that track in the Chinese market there is no turning back."

South-pacific.travel is organizing a Pacific Village at China International Travel Mart in Kunming in November with the kind support of China National Tourism Administration. South Pacific delegates at the 96 square metre Village will introduce tourism experiences to Chinese travel agents.

South-pacific.travel is a not-for-profit regional organisation based in Suva. It has 14 Government members, including China, and about 200 private sector members.South-pacific.travel, 04/09/07.