FijiBure continues to light its own fire
The popularity of FijiBure.com continues to grow, and with it the proof of the natural ability of our many hosts to provide their guests with a unique cultural experience. We are now experiencing the "FULL" sign at villages on a regular basis with the need to book early matching that of well known local hotels.
Perhaps the best proof of how the evolving concept of cultural exchange is catching on can be seen in this graph of unique visitors visiting the web site since we started monitoring statistics in January this year:
The graph above reflects nearly ten thousand unique visitors in April
this year.
The most exciting development for us is the referrals that we are getting from people who are friends of those who have gone before. We are now getting direct bookings without even having to answer questions - often with the comment that they are a "friend of ....". FijiBure.com and our hosts, which celebrate our first anniversary in a few months, could not be happier!
We have now had over 200 guests visit our villages - this success is thanks to our hosts, Simon, Judith, Tomasi, Ema, Sirelli, Susu, Ben, Bill, Toye, Lemeki, and Tui. They are the face of Fiji - even the foreign-owned tourist resorts in Fiji confirm this in their advertising.
Our statistics reflect a most interesting scenario. Most bookings are made by younger single women travelling with children, followed by elderly women as well as families with children and then couples without children. Obviously the men aren't into understanding culture - (and I say as a member of the male species) hopefully we can change that...
Our monthly email letter is now sent to well over 1,000 people from around the world - these are people, like you, who have requested being on it.
Yet another trip to Fiji
Yes, someone has to do it, I know!
I will be in Fiji visiting our hosts from 20th to 30th May.
During this trip I will be adding several new villages, meeting with the Ministry of Tourism and Fiji Visitors Bureau as well as Members of the Fijian Parliament. Sarah White, who has been been studying sustainable tourism, and works for FijiBure.com has prepared several documents which I will be giving to the government which will assist them in the establishment of a village homestay policy. We are delighted to be invited to be part of this important new area of tourism.
To find out more about our global sustainable tourism policy go to this link
Finally, I will be staying with Simon and Judith at Namatakula and I will also be going up to Namuamua to meet with Tomasi and discuss the establishment of a "Friends of Namuamua" fund that will look after basic requirements in the village that the Fijian Government cannot afford to. More on this later.
Moce
Scott Balson