Fiji Tips & articles

3 September 2009 10:56am

Fiji: how serious is the situation?

  • Vivek Wagle
  • Lonely Planet Author

Note: Javascript is disabled in your browser.
To see the gallery in all its glory, you'll need to enable Javascript.

Image_14817-32
View gallery

Fiji has been suspended from the Commonwealth of Nations. What does this mean, and how does it affect travellers?

The Commonwealth of Nations used to be the ‘British Commonwealth’. It’s largely a group of countries that used to be part of the British Empire.

Fiji most recently ran afoul of the Commonwealth leadership in 2006, when Commodore Frank Bainimarama took over the country via a military coup. (It has been in trouble with the Commonwealth before then.) Since then, no elections have been held. Bainimarama insists that the country won’t go to the polls until 2014 - a date unacceptable to the Commonwealth.

For everyday Fijians, this doesn’t mean much - yet. Commonwealth suspension means that Fiji will no longer have privileged access to communication between Commonwealth governments. Further, it will suffer a reduction in aid and scientific assistance.

However, the bigger story for travellers is that the International Federation of Journalists has called for a tourism boycott of Fiji. Statistics show that tourism to Fiji has already dropped despite low airfares to and prices within Fiji. If the IFJ has its way, tourists would place further pressure on the military government by avoiding the island nation.

Another point of view, though, is that taken by Australian Foreign Minister Steve Smith, who claims that a boycott would hurt only ordinary Fijians rather than the government.

What do you think? Would the Commonwealth suspension affect your view of travelling to Fiji? Would you boycott travelling to a country because of its political situation?

Comments

  1. 3 September 2009 6:42PM jduffy Report this comment

    I agree that boycotting Fiji would only make residents of Fiji, who have no control over the political situation, suffer more.

  2. 4 September 2009 5:27AM amokinsa Report this comment

    In response to that, has the 45-year embargo of Cuba by the U.S. hurt the government of Cuba or the people? Last I saw, Fidel looked quite comfortable in his Adidas outfit while smoking his cigarros at his palace... while the citizens get a scoop of beans and one chicken per month, and zero toilet paper.

  3. 1 December 2009 6:34AM exops Report this comment

    The reality is Embargos will not change the direction of a county alone. It needs the support of the people of that county. Whether it comes willingly or because they have suffered because of the embargo and demand a change (uprise)!!! The 2 comments before don't take this into account. Cuba is an excellent example of why most embargos do not work. Simpathedic countries will either, not join or support the embargo. Better yet they will say they do and then sneak supplies in. The embargo fails but the citizens are still effected because of the lack of volume of the items coming in.

Add a comment

Sign in or register to add your comment.