Visitors to Fiji will now have to pay their quarantine costs under new Covid-19 protocols.
Parliament yesterday passed amendments to the Public Health Act to charge quarantine fees to foreigners entering Fiji during the pandemic.
The government says with yachties coming into the country through its 'Blue Lanes Initiative', local authorities have incurrred millions of dollars in quarantine costs.
Health Minister Ifereimi Waqainabete says the funds will strengthen Fiji's Covid-19 containment framework, "for those who come here and are not from Fiji, we're now able to bill them for the measures around quarantining them."
"We will also ensure that we set the safeguards and processes in place to keep our country Covid-19 contained, " he said.
The Port Denarau Marina in Nadi. Photo: Supplied/Port Denarau Marina
Ifereimi Waqainabete says tourists will also have to pay medical costs related to their quarantine.
Visitors will be required to pay for costs incurred by the military for security during quarantine and by the navy for sailing out to meet those on the yachts, for accommodation and medical costs during quarantine.
Attorney-General Aiyaz Sayed-Khaiyum said there were "people with high net worth" who had come to Fiji who could easily bear the costs.