The tropical cyclone, which struck in February, was the strongest to make landfall in Fiji in recorded history. But out of the 400 hotels and resorts in the archipelago, Frank Bainimarama said only 9% had been affected by Winston.

Talking at the Fijian Tourism Exchange (FTE 2016), Bainimarama explained: “As many of you know 2015 was the biggest year ever for Fijian tourism in terms of numbers and earnings.

"You might have expected us to be significantly down given this past couple of months, but I’m very pleased and proud to report that this is not the case at all.

"In quarter one we received a total of 158,069 visitors, which is an increase of 10.2% compared to the same period last year. And in March alone arrivals totalled 55,977, up 9.7% from the same period last year.”

He added that the swift industry reaction and Fiji Airways’ ensuing social media campaign “Right Here, Right Now” – where real time user-generated content on social media was shared to reassure potential visitors that the islands were open for business – ensured minimal impact on visitor numbers.

“We came together as a team to take an urgent message to the world,” he said. “It shows us what we can do to confront any challenge, however daunting.”

Bainimarama was equally sanguine about Fiji’s prospects for the rest of 2016. “We’re set for another bumper year for tourism, both in [visitor] numbers and in earnings,” he said.

“We’ve set a target of five years to achieve our vision of making Fijian tourism a $2 billion a year industry. But we now think we can do so much sooner if we can capitalise on the effectiveness of our response to Winston and keep the momentum going.”

The two new flight routes from flag carrier Fiji Airways will help to strengthen Fiji’s position as a premier destination, he added. Twice-weekly nonstop flights to San Francisco will launch in June and direct twice-weekly flights to Singapore commenced in April.

The government is investing heavily in infrastructure, with renovations taking place at Nadi international airport, as well improvements to the roads on the main island of Viti Levu.

“It’s a huge task ahead of us to rebuild Fiji,” Bainimarama said. “[But] tourism is our number one industry in Fiji and my government attaches the highest importance to its health and wellbeing.”