Rick Hamilton, CEO of Tourism FIJI, has decided they wont be participating in their own annual trade show, the BFTE or Bula Fiji Tourism Exchange. BFTE which is due to go 'live' on the 15 - 17th of May has been attended of late by numerous South Pacific nations and is advertised as:

"The Fiji Islands is the hub of the Pacific and at BFTE you can meet the top tourism identities from the Cook Islands, Niue, Papua New Guinea, Kiribati, Norfolk, American Samoa, Samoa, Tahiti, Solomons, New Caledonia, Tonga, Vanuatu and of course, the Fiji tourism industry."

This decision is because FIJI dont want to feel marginalised by other nations attending their trade show. “Competing Pacific islands are invited to participate to showcase their offering, conduct contract talks, network and try to win business against Fiji,” he said. “We believe it is difficult enough to win business with local competition, let alone have to compete in this forum against the rest of the South Pacific in their own country.”

David Voss, the event organiser says "Tourism Fiji’s role at the Bula Fiji Tourism Exchange was to attend and meet stakeholders there.”
“It’s an industry-funded event and funds come from the tourism industry, mainly our major sponsors such as Westpac, AON and Air Pacific.
“Their withdrawal therefore, will have no impact on the event what-so-ever.”