The areas I have been specifically requested to address are the following: •  The contribution of tourism to foreign exchange earnings  •  The potential of tourism in reviving the economy  •  Retention level  Outline The outline of my presentation is as follows: •  Global economic conditions  •  Domestic economic conditions  •  Fiji’s tourism industry  •  Retention rate and economic impact  •  Policy implications  •  Summary  Global economic conditions Global growth is slowing.
The International Monetary Fund (IMF) expects global growth to slow to 4.1% in 2008 and to soften further to 3.8% in 2009. Our major trading partners and visitor source markets have a sluggish outlook for the next two years. However, emerging market economies, like China and India, will continue to experience firm growth rates and provide stability to global growth.