The Pacific Islands of Fiji will be open to visitors once again starting this December, announced yesterday on Fiji Day by Fiji’s Prime Minister Frank Bainimarama.
Recognising Fiji Day (10 October) and 51 years of the island nation’s independence, the country’s Prime Minister gave the news that after nearly two years of being closed, its borders will once again be opened to international visitors from December 1, 2021.
“To our friends in Australia and New Zealand and to the residents of other countries we’re preparing to welcome, our message is simple: Fiji is ready to welcome you back to our shores,” says Prime Minister Frank Bainimarama. “We are entirely confident in our ability to manage the risk associated with quarantine-free travel. Our planes are prepared, our airports are adapted. Every Fijian hotel and tour operator in Fiji will be certified under the Care Fiji Commitment program. And our people’s world-renowned hospitality is as wonderful as you all remember. Our first scheduled tourism flight to the country — on Fiji Airways — will be on 1 December.”
The country, which is ready to safely welcome travellers back after reaching the vaccination milestone of 80% of its eligible population being fully vaccinated, will still have some travel requirements in place to provide a level of assurance to both their visitors and its locals.
The country will still have entry requirements in place to ensure the utmost safety of both visitors and locals. These include being a fully vaccinated traveller from a “Travel Partner” country (defined as one with high vaccination rates and low-test positivity rates, such as Australia), providing a negative PCR test taken less than three days prior to departure from home country, and fulfilling any obligation to take an additional test prior to returning home, based on individual home country requirements. Unvaccinated children under the age of 18 will be able to travel to Fiji accompanied by a vaccinated adult.
“It’s been almost two years since we welcomed international visitors. And in these two years, we’ve struggled, we’ve adapted and we’ve prepared. Today, our national airline is ready, our hotels and tour providers are ready, and Fijians are ready to safely welcome the world back. We are ready to let happiness find you again.” Minister for Tourism, Hon. Faiyaz Koya.
“We are ecstatic that Fiji will open its borders to international visitors before the end of the year,” says Tourism Fiji’s CEO Brent Hill. “This is the moment we have been planning for nearly two years now and I can assure the world that Fiji is safe and ready to welcome you back. The islands are just as beautiful – if not more beautiful – than ever and the locals just as warm and friendly. Fiji is the vacation the world needs and deserves right now, and we can finally offer that again from December.”
The health and safety of its people and visitors remains Fiji’s number one priority; Travellers can book and travel in confidence with the destination-wide Care Fiji Commitment, a World Health Organisation approved standard of best practice health and safety measures for travel in a post-COVID world. Every person in Fiji that visitors interact with on their holiday, will have a dedicated Wellness Ambassador responsible for keeping everybody safe, however travel insurance is still highly recommended.
Land and air travel packages will soon be available to book, however, travellers can reserve their flights now on www.fijiairways.com and browse and book resort stays at www.fiji.travel.