A call to Grubsheet by a journalist from one of Australia’s biggest media outlets about the “poisoned” drinks saga at the Warwick Hotel that has left four Australians critically ill underlines the vulnerability of Fiji’s biggest revenue earner. Because one of the first questions is whether this was a one-off event or could visitors to other resorts also be in danger.
Well, the Australian government certainly thinks so. Because it has issued a “smart traveller alert” warning Australians visiting Fiji over the holiday period about the potential for “spiked” or contaminated drinks that covers the whole country.
“What’s your poison?” is an old line that is sometimes asked of anyone where alcohol is served. But if drinks in Fiji are being literally poisoned or someone is using methanol as a substitute for alcohol, then the whole country is in deep trouble. Because Fiji has suddenly joined Laos as a holiday destination where you can no longer be sure of what is in your glass.
The Labor frontbencher, Jason Clare, has said there is a “terrifying sense of deja vu” about the Warwick poisonings after two Australian young women died from methanol poisoning in Laos a month ago. Which is why the story is now headline news in the Australian media.
The journalist who called me wanting to know if there could be a wider problem beyond the Warwick was especially interested that the poisonings there were at a mainstream hotel that is a special favourite of middle income Aussie “mums and dads”. Whereas the recent poisonings in Laos were at a cheap backpackers establishment where people could be expected to cut corners.
The current headlines in Oz will be extremely worrying for the government and Tourism Fiji. And if, God forbid, one of these victims from the Warwick dies, then Fiji will have an even bigger problem.
A timely reminder that nothing can be taken for granted in terms of the stability of our main industry. And the police need to find the culprit as soon as possible or the Fijian economy generally could take a hit.
UPDATE MONDAY PM:
The lead story on Nine Media websites, including the Sydney Morning Herald.
Just another example of slipshod attitudes to everything in Fiji – the rot filters down from the top. Let’s just sit back and watch this administration destroy itself. They are doing a very good job of it.
Government and authorities in Fiji are too busy boasting how well the Fiji Tourism Industry is doing. Their target is to get a million tourist this year so they can again boast as a first for Fiji.
We all want the industry to do well. The industry has been spared by any major cyclones over the past few years, but the industry remains vulnerable, particularly when Fiji’s economy is highly dependent on this single sector
The latest incident could have been avoided if hotels practiced healthy food and drinks standards. Ilicit drugs are prevalent and essily available in Fiji. There is no doubt that border security and police action have been dismal, so they must lift their game.
We hope nothing drastic happens to those affected. There is no doubt that tourist will be more cautious in determining their destination for a holiday in the future. We need to allay all fears urgently by taking action and strengthening surveillance and safety of our tourists.
The big local story in the early 80s was to establish Fiji as a destination for the Japanese market, big money, big spenders, etc. There was little work to set operating standards and establish consistency in quality across the industry. The polite Japanese tourist did not complain about the yoyo bula standards but they clearly did not return.
Instead of building more rooms, Fiji must address the persistent low average annual occupancy, the low average wage and benefit package to front line staff, the minimal entry requirements with industry recruitment, etc. The stakeholders must establish real opportunities for the landowners from the MOUs and not just guaranteed roles as housekeepers, bartenders, serenaders. From the Warwick with all the international brand properties up to Denarau, the boutique resorts in the maritime regions, how many general managers, chief engineers, Directors (Marketing, HR, Finance, Food & Beverage), executive chefs are landowners?
The warm Fijian spirit is real, it is priceless, but it has a heart and a soul, nurture it.
If all you are good for is being a housekeeper then that’s all you will be at a tightly-run capitalist entity.
The real question is how many landowners are qualified general managers, chief engineers, Directors (Marketing, HR, Finance, Food & Beverage) and executive chefs. Very few, it seems. Plus these roles are generally filled by expats.
And why, as you put it, do stakeholders have to establish real opportunities for the landowners? They are getting lease monies for land they couldn’t have done much with anyway. Keep the affirmative action within Government and iTaukei institutions, thanks.
Word on the street is that someone was guzzling either the vodka or the gin and when the bottle became empty, they refilled it with methylated spirit to hide their guilt/theft.
Unfortunately, this deception has led to people becoming critically ill and nearly dying.
The government as always remains silent, pretending to know nothing. Rabuka is still playing with his nuts through his sulu pocket and waiting to be “officially advised” by the Minister for Tourism.
@ Fjord Ssilor
Stop lying. The drinks were not locally concocted meths but pre-packaged pina coladas from Australia.
@ Anonymous
No. Before you accuse anyone of lying, Minister Gavoka was on the ABC last night admitting the rum was Fijian made as were the orange juice and coconut cream.
Get your facts right
Hey Kulina. We talking about ‘concentrated meths’. Cant you read?
I think the frightening part for tourists is the trust we can all have in a proper investigation, rather than a whitewash to protect the tourism dollar. At this point in time, does the Government care more about the safety of tourists, or that tourists keep bringing over their cash? Ultimately, if they put cash first, then over time the cash will of course dry up as fast as trust does.
I think many tourists will be relying more on their duty free than cocktails at bars this holiday season.
Oi….the pini coladas they imbibed were pre-packaged from Australia. Stop the lies and the negative anti-Fiji innuendos please. Kulina !
I’m sorry but this is only half the story. I watched Bill Gavoka on the ABC’s 730 Report disclosing that prepackaged pin coladas at the Warwick were sourced from both Australia and Fiji. Are you saying that the Minister for Tourism is spreading lies and innuendo?
Fiji has become like the Bronx. The acting Manager Crowne Plaza was found dead in the bathroom of the hotel with stab wounds Was that a drug deal gone wrong or a burglary blunder?
Warwick resort and Crown Plaza have done more damage to Fijian tourism than cyclone Winston 🌀 😢 in the last few days.
I read everyone comments and people need to chill out. This is not an everyday occurrence in Fiji hotels, could be an isolated event, could be that the tourists were involved, could be locals were involved, we don’t know at this stage but to paint a picture that all is not well in Fiji, it’s the Governments fault or the rot has settled in is utter irresponsible for people making these comments.
Fiji is a very safe destination compared to other destinations. Things do happen from time to time but to put some blame on Rabuka or his Government is nonsense. Yes the Government maybe somewhat unhinged right now but they are not responsible for this and the challenge for the Government is to get to the bottom of this and ensure safety of tourists and those responsible are held accountable.
Think, people, think
The Ministry of Health issued press release on Sunday mentioned the hotel (Warwick) and the cocktail link, triggering the deluge of local and international headlines. Today, clearly, it is Ministry of Tourism, and Tourism Fiji, controlling the narrative, with the Fiji Government statement not mentioning the exact hotel, and talking about not speculating on the cause before test results. The bumbling DPM and Tourism Minister made a considerable effort to downplay the event, and even mentioned they’re in “damage control now” when questioned during today’s press conference. Well, yes, of course they are, but why even say “damage control” if you want to be appear credible? Let’s hope nobody lets him front international media, better Brent Hill of Tourism Fiji handle that.
Shockingly, a former Fiji Government and PAP communications manager, who is now a manager at Fiji Times, commented that “Ministry of Health should have suppressed the name of the resort” on another Fiji Time’s senior manager/journalist’s public FB post questioning the omission of the hotel name in the Fiji Government statement today. Nothing against either of them at all, but this is another example of how compromised the Fiji media have become, when a journalist actually calls for suppression of information by government. The Fiji media need to cut out this notion that they are beholden to this government for freeing them, and take seriously their responsibility of free and fair reporting, holding those in power to account. The last government is history. And yet the Fiji media are still not free, they are self censoring, and this time, by their own choice, based on their own bias.
This is not new.
Hotels and resorts are typically known and few have been in the spotlight in the Northern part of Fiji. Savusavu’s manager at a 5 star resort was given a boot from his job this year. People know. Ask the locals. Fiji Police knows. As usual, the police and the resorts fail to investigate.
I have heard of tourists uplifted from one hotel in Savusavu who were from Australia and New Zealand. It was related to both alcohol and drugs spiked in drinks. The culprits roam around free. The hotels take no responsibility. They attack the locals who complain. Then they wonder why someone is left dead in their hotel, raped, or beaten.
Tourism is not very safe in all hotels in Fiji. It is after all an over rated destination.
Well bugger off somewhere else in the Pacific…kulina !
Fiji is over rated as a beach tourist destination. Food and drinks at the hotels are over priced. Service is slow coming. Because I am Kaindia, I assumed that the average Fijian taukei worker was anti Indian at the hotels. The kai valangis and kai lomas tip more than the typical kanjoos Fiji Indian so I thought it was a fair cop being treated like this.
But this is new. I expect my cheap Kaindia relatives to pour cheap whiskey brands in the empty black label bottles they served at their family functions.
Whoever at the Warwick is replacing the authentic cocktails with crap needs to be sent to gaol.
Just my two cents, but if it was a pre-packaged pina colada can, shouldn’t they be releasing a product recall?
My gut is telling me this is more likely drink spiking and/pr drug use than methanol poisoning
“Blinky Bill” Gavoka gave an interview to ABC tonight in which he said the Warwick used prepackaged pina colada from Australia and Fiji but it was too early to say with certainty what had been the source of the contamination. And he agreed with the interviewer when she said he was not yet in a position to give an assurance that this was a one-off event that couldn’t happen to others in Fiji.
Clearly we just don’t know enough yet. And as a former PR professional, I must say I wondered why he gave the interview at all. It was decidedly less than reassuring.
Blinky Bill with his fancy Creolic Jambalaya accent from the back hills of Tobago is hardly a reassuring figure. He is more a tsunami whisperer….good at predicting tsunsmi’s …nothing else.
He picked up the accent after a few months on a short course in Hawaii.
The interview on ABC 7.30 (now available on YouTube) was terrible. Why on earth would anyone let Gavoka speak with the international media? He came across as decidedly sleepy and non-reassuring. Our Ministers are not used to interviews with journalists who ask probing questions and pushback on answers. He was really startled, and flustered into agreeing when Sarah Ferguson pushed back and said that he really could not give the assurance that this was an isolated incident. And I reckon she went relatively easy on him! Him and the rest are too used to being coddled by the generally subservient Fiji media.
Agree. We all know why Blinky Bill was put forward as the face of Fijian tourism on ABC. Because they didn’t want a white man in the form of Brent Hill doing the interview, even though Hill features in other coverage in the print media in Oz.
They cannot think beyond their narrow racial agenda. They are willing to have Brent Hill as the head of Tourism Fiji but can’t see that putting him forward as an Australian running the country’s tourism industry was far more likely to reassure potential travellers than Blundering Blinky.
But kudos to Gavoka for not falling into the trap of making an assurance that he and no-one can make until the investigation is complete. He at least came across as candid and honest. And as a Koala, he will have resonated with some Aussies in the bush. 😉
It is intereting to see your attached article says Minister Gavoka is waiting for testing from the health authorities but a interview with the Minister for Health says they are waiting on police to perform the toxicology reports.
Clearly they need to do a lot better coordinating the messaging. But what else can we expect from the government that is all over the place on practically everything.
Put Baimaan Prasad up there. The man is so crazy for publicity he will open toilet doors just to get in the media. I thought ASK was a megalomaniac but he’s nothing compared to Baimaan and his blah, blah, blah.
Bill Gavoka’s should retire, he struggled through the written part of his news conference, His English diction is appalling, should be nowhere near a camera.
Did Gavoka go eh? eh? at the end of his sentences. You know Fijians are the best at everything including the correct way to speak English. The rest of the world should learn from Fijians.