Chiefs get rich....

The general experience is that, at the start, the local government find the cash inflows from tourism makes impressive reading. But soon it is seen that too little cash stays in the country. Instead it drains away as tourists demand imported luxury goods, as foreign investors repatriate their profits and foreign workers remit their earnings.

The local participation in the tourist industry is not as great as it is made out it will be. In Fiji the tourist industry, projected to require 6,190 trained hotel staff in 1985 currently "cannot train" 1000 of its 2,586 operatives. Expatriates fill the positions instead. Furthermore the management is more interested in cutting costs by using labour saving devices.

The Minister of Tourism in Fiji said that the Fijian government was taking steps to encourage capital investment by Fijians in the tourism industry so they could become a more important part of the decision-making process. But the only ones who can invest are those who are closest to the foreign operators in outlook and manner of life. So many "chiefs" become rich, some businessmen do better than ever but this is a tiny segment beside the total number of local people. The people don't get to make the decisions. Instead the elite grow fatter at the poorer's expense while the Gross National Product by rising continues to mislead and obscure the true condition of the people.