How to Brief a Fiji DMC and Get Comparable Quotes

A Fiji DMC brief produces comparable quotes only when it fixes four things: the exact inclusions, the tax treatment, the currency, and the format the response must arrive in. Leave any of those open and you will receive three proposals that cannot be laid side by side — which is how most Fiji sourcing exercises actually go wrong.

There is also something you should know before you start: Fiji has no professional accreditation body for DMCs or event organisers. Your due diligence is entirely your own.

Why can't you verify a Fiji DMC through an industry body?

Because there isn't one.

We looked. The Fiji Hotel and Tourism Association is real and active, but has no business-events or MICE arm, chapter or committee — its only named subcommittee covers dive operators, and it publishes no DMC or event-organiser membership category. The Pacific Tourism Organisation is a regional tourism body, not an event-organiser association. ADMEI, the global destination management body, surfaces no Fiji or South Pacific members. The Australian PCO Association publishes nothing about Pacific coverage.

There is no Fiji equivalent of PCOA certification, and no Fiji Events Association.

So due diligence has to be direct. Practical checks that do exist:

• A live, current trading website — several names that circulate in Fiji DMC lists have none
• Fiji Hotel and Tourism Association or Pacific Tourism Organisation membership
• A Tourism Fiji listing
• Land Transport Authority public service vehicle licensing for any transport they provide directly
• References from planners who ran comparable programmes, and the right to contact them

That last one carries more weight in Fiji than in accredited markets. Ask for two references at similar scale and actually call them.

Who are the real Fiji DMCs?

Confirmed as trading businesses with live websites:

Two notes worth having. Team Up Events is a team-building supplier, not a destination management company — a real and capable business, but do not brief it as a DMC. And a number of company names that circulate in Fiji DMC lists could not be confirmed as trading businesses with live websites at all. If a name has no website, ask harder questions.

The broader supplier landscape is mapped in Fiji DMCs, PCOs and event suppliers, and the prior question — whether you need one at all — in do you need a DMC in Fiji?.

What has to be in the brief?

1. The event, precisely

• Dates, including your flexibility on them
• Delegate numbers: confirmed, expected and maximum
• Delegate origin markets and expected arrival pattern
• Programme shape day by day, even in draft
• Whether the venue is already chosen or the DMC is sourcing it

2. Inclusions, itemised — not "full service"

This is where comparability is won or lost. Specify each line and ask for it priced separately:

• Airport transfers: arrival and departure, vehicle class, meet and greet staffing
• Meeting space and the specific rooms required by session
• Day delegate catering, itemised by break
• Each function: welcome, themed dinner, gala — with venue, duration and inclusion level
• Beverage: package or consumption, and for how long
• AV and production, by room
• Offsite activities, by option
• Staffing: on-site hours, number of people, which days
• Gifting and signage

If you ask for "a three-day conference package for 200", you will get three numbers that mean three different things.

3. The tax treatment — new and important for 2026

State explicitly that every quote must show tax separately and state which taxes apply to each line.

From 1 September 2026 Fiji applies a new Tourism Services Tax of 5% on tourism operators above FJ$2 million annual turnover, on top of 12.5% VAT. That is roughly 17.5% combined on major-operator supply.

The complication is the threshold. A resort is above it; a small local activity operator or village-based supplier may be below it and therefore outside TST. Two quotes can differ by 5% on a line purely because of the supplier's turnover. Unless you require the tax breakdown, you will not see it.

Two further points to specify:

• Whether quoted rates are inclusive or exclusive of VAT and TST. Get this stated, not assumed.
• The Service Turnover Tax was abolished in August 2020 and ECAL on prescribed services was repealed in April 2022. If a quote still shows either, query it — some Fiji cost guidance in circulation is out of date.

4. Currency and validity

• Quote in FJD. Converting at the DMC's chosen rate hides margin and makes comparison unreliable.
• Require a stated validity period on the quote.
• State who carries currency risk between quote and contract.

For reference, at Reserve Bank of Fiji rates published 17 September 2026, 1 FJD = 0.7813 NZD, 0.6297 AUD, 0.4463 USD.

5. The response format

Specify it. A required structure is what makes three proposals comparable.

What should you specifically ask about in Fiji?

Five questions that surface the things Fiji quotes routinely leave implicit.

1. What is the wet-weather alternative for every outdoor element, and what does it cost? Much of Fiji's best event space is outdoors. Get the alternative costed, not described.
2. Which elements are you subcontracting, and to whom? Fiji is a small supplier market. Three DMCs may be quoting the same coach operator and the same AV supplier. Knowing that changes what you are actually comparing.
3. Is every vehicle a licensed public service vehicle, and what class? Legal PSVs carry yellow plates, RSL vehicles red. Get it confirmed in writing.
4. What is your cyclone-season contingency and at what point is it triggered? Fiji's cyclone season runs November to April, peaking January to March, with around two tropical cyclones affecting Fiji in an average season.
5. What is not included that I have not thought to ask about? The best DMCs answer this one properly, and the answer tells you a great deal about who you are dealing with.

Do not budget for subvention

Worth stating in the brief so nobody prices a phantom.

Tourism Fiji runs two event funds — the Event Development Fund at up to FJD$20,000 per event and the Marquee Event Fund at FJD$20,000 and above. Both explicitly exclude business events. The EDF's ineligibility list names "Any business events such as Meetings, Incentives, Conferences or Exhibitions", and the MEF states it "will not fund business events such as Meetings, Incentives, Conferences or Exhibitions".

There is no conference bid-support or subvention fund in Fiji. See is there any funding or subvention for Fiji business events.

Is there a template you can start from?

Nothing Fiji-specific, but two credible general standards:

• The Events Industry Council APEX Destination Management RFP is the most directly relevant — a recognised template specifically for briefing a DMC rather than a venue.
• MPI publishes a free, ungated sample Request for Venue Proposal, which is a reasonable fallback and covers venue sourcing well.
• The PCO Association (Australia) publishes a Residential Conference RFP and an Accommodation Only RFP, though these are member-gated.

Use one as scaffolding, then add the five Fiji-specific questions above. A generic template will not ask about PSV licensing, TST thresholds or cyclone triggers, and in Fiji those are the questions that matter.

The verdict

Fix inclusions line by line, require tax shown separately per line, quote in FJD, and dictate the response format. Those four things convert a Fiji sourcing exercise from three incomparable proposals into a real decision.

Then do the due diligence yourself, because no one else is going to do it for you — there is no accreditation body standing behind any Fiji DMC, and a live website plus two verifiable references is the closest thing to a credential the market offers.

Build the cost side from building a Fiji conference budget: the template, and benchmark the answers against what a Fiji conference costs per delegate. Suppliers by category are in the directory, and conference venues by capacity on the capacity chart.

Tax rates, thresholds and licensing requirements change. Confirm the current position with the Fiji Revenue and Customs Service and the Land Transport Authority before contracting.