LP & Costs in Fiji

Just had a peek into the new LP guide to Fiji.

After declaring Fiji is "cheaper than many Pacific countries", it informed me "On average, budget travellers can expect to pay about $100-$150 per day for food, transport and accommodation."
I had to call out "WTF???"
Now, even if that's Fijian dollars, it is still WAY more than I spent living a fairly decent life there.
Have prices gone up THAT much in the past 3 years, or is this just another example of LP authors having lost touch with reality?
After finding a 150 USD per night resort recommended in an itinerary "suitable for budget travellers" in their previous PNG guide, I now have my reservations.... ;-)

In comparison to other backpacker magnets such as South East Asia, Fiji is quite expensive. But dont forget that the Fijian Dollar has been devalued and gives you more money to play with.
But if you were here 3 years ago then not much has changed in regards to prices...

Currently FJD$1.65 = AUD$1

This means FJD$100= AUD$65

This means FJD$100= AUD$65

Why should we all count in AUD, mandja? ;-)

To me FJD is FJD.
And I positively recall spending much less than 100-150 of it in a day.

I would say our average was 60-75$US as a couple when we were stayng at local bures. This includes tours (~25$USpp on average. In FP it was about 80-125$USpp just for the tour).

People should not compare Fiji with SEA but rather directly with melanesia,micronesia,polynesia or Oceania as a region.

Perhaps you should have taken time to have more than a peek. If you did, you would see that even the most basic of accommodation in the Yasawas (the traditional backpacker island chain) costs around $75 per night per person and that is in a dorm. This would would leave you $25 for everything else, putting you in the $100 - $150 range indicated in the book.

I agree with Drgreenthumb - perhaps you are unwise to compare this with other countries. Of course living in a country is cheaper than travelling in a country - but I found that the prices given in the guide are up to date (at least for this year).

As for PNG - I have also been there and I think you are referring to the previous guide. If so, sheesh - let it go already, it was written 4 years ago!

Travel_boy, perhaps you need to be told that Fiji is more than just the Yasawas? Resort islands are resort islands, little self-contained tourist ghettoes, and hardly representative of any country as a whole.

About the PNG guide, I have myself pointed out in the OP that I am talking of the previous guide, but it provides a good example of the attitudes of many present LP authors all the same.

OTOH, I can't see any comparision with "other countries" in the OP either (it is in fact replies #1 & #6 who do it) - could you please point out if I overlook it somehow?

Incidentally, my daily budget in Fiji worked out to be the same as the lower end of what drgreenthumb said per person (US $30 - with no tours, hate them) which is way under the LP estimate.

But aren't there GOOD guidebooks available for Fiji?

I see that David Stanley has a Fiji guide, there is a Rough Guide.

Lonely Planet no longer publishes the quality guides that they used to. Their current M.O. seems to be sending someone to a place that they have never been, with scant money to write a guidebook as quickly as possible. The results are as expected.

Portions of some LP guides seem as if the author has not visited the place that they are writing about.

A review of the RG - doesn't sound too good, at least for budget travellers.

I used the Moon guide myself in Fiji, though had plenty of opportunities to compare with LP (everyone else had that). Liked Moon better back then, but was still wondering if this new LP might have improved. Well, apparently not - for my style of travel (which does not center on places like the Yasawas), anyway.

i forgot to add that when you arrive at the airport, there might be people that will offer you accomodations or packages. There are also travel agency on the second floor of the arrivals. If you book through them, they will have commisions on top of the real price. When we went to the yasawas, the Yasawa flyer rep on board has a radio that can communicate with all the resorts. you just have to tell them what youre looking for, budget, etc...we made our bookings w/out commisions by going straight to the lodging directly but there's also risk of no vacancy.

Generally, the little islands will be more pricier than staying in the mainland of viti levu and or vanua levu

TTers may not know that the FJD was recently devalued by (I think) 20% overnight, making it much less expensive.

In fact against the AUD the dpreciation in the last 12 months is nearer to 30%. Sadly , some places (eg Octopus) are pricing in USD as a result,

Laszlo - I wasn't implying that Fiji was all about the Yasawas, and while I appreciate that you may not care for these islands they are the most popular destination for backpackers and hence I used them as an example. Sure you can go couch surfing, stay on the mainland and save money but since this is not how most people are choosing to holiday in Fiji then an average price based on this wouldn't be helpful to a traveller trying to get an idea of how much things cost in Fiji if they want to spend some time at those island beaches and snorkel some of those beautiful reefs.

Incidentally, of all the islands you can visit off the mainland, the Yasawas is the cheapest as it, and the really expensive Mamanucas, are the only ones with a daily ferry service. There are a few others (Nananu-i-Ra, Lomaiviti Group etc) but budget accommodation is no cheaper there (well it wasn't last year when I was there).

Anyway, my job isn't to defend Lonely Planet. I just wanted to point out that given the expectation and travel habits of most backpackers and using the Yasawas as an example, how the budget given in the guide is realistic. I did this so that should other travellers be interested in visiting Fiji they are not expecting to be spending $30 if they want to get off the mainland as most do.

I can't comment on the Rough guide, but I also used the Moon book and it too was excellent and I really recommend it (along with the LP guide). But (like the LP) there were mistakes in this too. There was even a review in the Moon guide for a resort (the JW Marriott Fiji Resort and Spa) that was never built. It makes you wonder how it was reviewed if it doesn't exist. But like I said, the Moon guide is good as well.

Cheers

I might just add that to manage the budget noted above, I did NOT have to resort to couchsurfing - I never do.
However, I did find PAYING accommodation in most places I went to for 20 FJD or less.
Nor did I stick to the "mainland" - there are several other islands in Fiji that can be visited on the above budget, including Taveuni and Ovalau, both of which are far more interesting than the Yasawas to anyone interested in more than just beaches or partying.

Well amyway, if the authors had been more specific about noting that certain more touristy parts of the country can cost significantly more than the rest, they would have done a good job.
As it is, I do think they are misinforming people, which is bad both for Fiji and for those readers who might quickly be put off the idea of even thinking of visiting it after reading theabove estimate on costs there. The fact that it is not obvious, at least in that intro chapter (which might be the only thing many undecided people look into) whether that estimate is given in Fijian or US or AU dollars just makes it worse.
Many people already seem to believe that the South Pacific as a whole is an outrageously expensive destination, requiring a budget of at least US $100 per day or so, and such "info" from the "Bible" only serves to strengthen the myth.

That's great to hear. I'm off to Taveuni next week. Do you by any chance recall the names of the accommodation available for F$20 a night? If not the name, even the general location (Taveuni isn't that big and I've been there several times so know it well) as I'm keen to save some dollars.

Thanks

I stayed in 2 places. One was the guesthouse in Lavena, which I used as a base for exploring the nature reserve covering the East (Taveuni's highlight to me), the other was the main town on the west coast, which made a good base for that side of the island. Looking up in my guidebook, I believe this latter one was Kool's Accommodation in Naqara.
Both places offered decent rooms (not even dorms!) for that sort of price.

I was in Fiji last September, and I found it quite expensive, especially alcohol. I spent a lot more in Fiji than say Hawaii for example. The cost of living is high.

I referred to SEA as I believe that backpackers (myself one) world over have a expectation that minimal dollars per day will generally do it,,, in SEA maybe,, in the pacific Islands,, generally no.....

I love Fiji and am in the process of relocating there permanetly, you simply cannot go with the expectation that its cheap,,,

Hi Laszlo - thanks for the tips but they are not for the $20 or less like you mentioned. Lavena lodge is $30 per person (as per the guide book) and Kool's closed down a couple of years ago.

Well, even if you had to pay $30 rather $20 a night now, I am pretty sure that did not necessarily push your daily expences to the $100-150 range.
It would not push mine, for sure!