I apologise that I have been out of contact for a week or so, but I have been in some very remote parts of Indonesia with Garuda Orient Holidays Ultimate in Diversity, Bali and Beyond programme and will be providing article and video reports on some of the amazing things to see and do in Indonesia outside Bali, very shortly.

I am now on the awesome island of Bali and picking up news once again and was interested  by some statistics which emerged from Fiji. The Fiji Islands Hotel and Tourism Association says the industry currently employs about 50,000 people, which CEO Michael Wong confirmed at the recent Fiji Tourism Forum.

He also said that the tourism industry is currently the country's largest foreign exchange earner and according to the Fiji Islands Bureau of Statistics, the industry earned $816.9 million last year although this was a decrease from the $853.9m earned in 2008.

Australia is Fiji's largest market in terms of visitor arrivals and earnings and last year the tourism industry made $375.3m from the Australian market alone. wNew Zealand visitors spent $146.6m in 2009 followed by the Americans at $77.3m and Canadians at $19.3m, which shows that Australians have now once again embraced Fiji as their top holiday destination.

It is also becoming clearer in Fiji that the Fijian Government has now also fully embraced tourism with no doubt the appointment of Jo Tuamoto as CEO of Fiji Tourism being a significant factor in that change.

Industry Insider Commentary and Opinion by e-Travel Blackboard’s Special Correspondent John Alwyn-Jones