The Nadi Chamber of Commerce has raised serious concerns regarding claims of harassment by touting of tourists visiting Nadi town.

President Doctor Ram Raju says claims of touting made on social media pages, particularly on Facebook, are very detrimental to the image of Nadi as a tourist town.

Dr. Raju says they are calling for reactivation of the tourist police unit in the tourist town.

He explains that in one of the claims, a tourist is alleging that she was grabbed by the hand and forcefully told to enter a particular shop for handicrafts and gift buying.

He says the post was shared on a page that has approximately 35,000 members.

Dr. Raju says relevant stakeholders need to be proactive and take necessary steps in advance to avoid such incidents in the future.

He says there is a need for greater physical presence of police officers in the town, and there needs to be regular scheduled patrols to serve as a deterrent for touts and business houses encouraging such practices.

FBC is trying to obtain a comment from the police on their plans to reactivate the tourist police unit.