Praneeta Prakash 
Tourism Fiji Chief Executive Brent Hill is urging prospective visitors to continue with their travel plans to Fiji, particularly during the peak holiday season.
His statement came in the wake of a suspected alcohol poisoning incident at Warwick Fiji Resort, which resulted in seven guests falling critically ill and being taken to hospital.
Hill says the two patients who remain admitted at the Lautoka Aspen Hospital, are responding well to treatment.
While acknowledging the potential impact of such incidents on the tourism industry, he emphasizes that this is an isolated case.
“Fiji doesn’t have any record previously of anything like alcohol poisoning or bootleg liquor or anything of that sort of nature, so it is a little mystifying as to how only a group of seven at a resort consuming, you know, ingredients that were on camera by a bar person who has spent, you know, 16 years there – that these tourists fell ill.”
Tourism Fiji Chief Executive Brent Hill
He says the authorities are working diligently to resolve the issue, reassuring the public that this will put everyone’s mind at rest.
“The real focus is on the toxicology report. There’s been a lot of conjecture about exactly what was ingested that made the tourists fall ill and I think one of the really important things here is that nothing has been confirmed yet so we’re not ruling anything out and that toxicology report will actually tell us the detail that we need to know. Of course, we are dealing with a luxury resort.”
Hill says the resort has reviewed its CCTV footage, interviewed the bartenders, and inspected the ingredients used in the beverages consumed by the affected tourists.
