The single change planners and couples need in their 2026-27 budgets is Fiji's new 5% Tourism Services Tax, effective 1 September 2026. It applies to hotels, tour operators and cruise operators turning over FJ$2 million or more, runs for 12 months, and sits on top of the existing 12.5% VAT. It is already appearing on resort folios.
This page is a running brief. We update it as measures are gazetted rather than when they are announced, because announcements change and gazettes do not.
What is the Tourism Services Tax, and who pays it?
The tax was introduced in the 2026-2027 National Budget, presented by the Minister for Finance on 26 June 2026. The accompanying tax package was assented to and published in the Government Gazette on 21 July 2026, amending Fiji's income tax, VAT, tax administration and customs laws alongside the new levy.
| Item | Detail |
|---|---|
| Rate | 5% |
| Applies to | Licensed hotels, tour operators and cruise operators with annual turnover of FJ$2 million or more |
| Effective | 1 September 2026 |
| Duration | Temporary — legislated as a 12-month measure |
| Revenue use | Ring-fenced and directed to Fiji Airways |
| Expected yield | About FJ$70 million |
Finance Minister Esrom Immanuel said "the revenue generated will be ring-fenced and fully directed to Fiji Airways", which is carrying higher fuel costs and still recovering from pandemic-era losses.
Where the dispute sits. Government's stated expectation is that operators absorb the tax rather than pass it on. Fiji's hotel association has publicly warned that visitors will pay it. Both things are already true in places: some operators have held rates, and at least one Mamanuca resort now lists "12.5% VAT and 5% Tourism Services Tax" as charges added at check-in. If you contracted before September, check whether your rate was quoted gross or net.
What does it change on an event or wedding invoice?
For a planner, three practical consequences.
- Your tax stack is now two lines, not one. Ask for quotes showing VAT and TST separately rather than folded into a rate. Our breakdown of VAT, service charge and levies on a Fiji event invoice covers the full sequence.
- Threshold effects are real. The FJ$2 million turnover floor means a small boutique property or an owner-operated tour supplier may not be charging it at all, while the resort next door is. Two quotes that look 5% apart may be identical in substance.
- The sunset is a contracting question. The measure is legislated as temporary. If your event falls after the 12-month window, do not let a supplier bake the levy into a 2028 rate without a clause that removes it if the tax lapses.
Is there funding or subvention for business events?
Nothing new has been gazetted that changes the position we set out in is there any funding or subvention for Fiji business events. Tourism Fiji and the Fiji Hotel and Tourism Association remain the first calls for bid support, and support is case-by-case rather than a published scheme. We will update this section if a formal subvention fund is legislated.
What is happening to the infrastructure planners actually depend on?
The grid. Energy Fiji Limited recorded 1,829 unplanned outages in 2025, up from 1,656 in 2024 — an increase of about 10.5%. The average duration of an unplanned outage improved slightly, from 317.74 minutes in 2024 to 306.71 minutes in 2025. Those figures were tabled in Parliament by the Minister for Public Enterprises in a written response.
The same response set out a FJ$522.66 million capital expenditure plan for 2025-2026 aimed at grid reliability, of which FJ$25.63 million had been spent as at 30 April 2026, leaving roughly FJ$497 million unspent. Read that two ways: the investment is committed, and the delivery is early. For now, plan outdoor and mission-critical programmes on the assumption that an outage averaging five hours is a live possibility — see power, generators and redundancy for outdoor events and power reliability and generator backup.
Air access. Route and capacity movements are tracked separately in Fiji Airways route changes: what planners and couples need to know. The TST's link to the national carrier makes that page and this one read together.
What regulatory changes affect weddings?
Two standing requirements that are easy to get wrong rather than recent changes:
- Marriage officers are registered annually. Under s.8 of the Marriage Act 1968, registered marriage officers are published in the Fiji Republic Gazette on registration and annually thereafter. A minister or celebrant who was registered two years ago is not automatically registered now. Confirm current registration before you contract — see who can legally marry you in Fiji.
- Medicinal products need import permits. Under the Medicinal Products Act 2011, commercial importers and donors — including visiting medical teams — need a permit for each product and each importation, assessed by the Fiji Medicine Regulatory Authority and decided by the Fiji Medicinal Products Board. Travellers carrying their own prescribed medicine do not. This bites on medical conferences and on any programme shipping clinical samples or devices.
What we could not confirm
In the interests of not guessing: the Fiji Revenue and Customs Service publishes a budget summary for 2026-2027, but the document would not render as text when we checked on 19 October 2026, so we have not restated its detail on VAT, excise or customs duty changes from secondary reporting. Where this brief gives a figure, it comes from a named source listed below. Where it does not, we have left the gap visible.
Guideline only — tax, immigration and licensing positions change. Confirm current obligations with the Fiji Revenue and Customs Service, and marriage registration with the Registrar of Births, Deaths and Marriages, before you contract. Last reviewed 19 October 2026.
What to do this week
If you hold a signed 2027 contract with a Fiji property, send one email: ask whether the quoted rate was inclusive of the Tourism Services Tax, and what happens to the rate if the levy lapses at the end of its 12-month term. That email costs nothing and settles the largest open variable on your budget.
If you are still sourcing, price the levy in from the start. Grand Pacific Hotel Suva, The Westin Denarau Island Resort & Spa, Radisson Blu Resort Fiji Denarau Island and Castaway Island Resort all sit well above the turnover threshold. Ground handlers such as Rosie Holidays can confirm how it is being applied across a multi-supplier programme.
More context on readiness sits on the Fiji event infrastructure hub and in internet and bandwidth at Fiji venues.
