Oligarchy: Fiji offers a pandemic escape, if you have a private jet
Hello, and welcome to Oligarchy. We are tracking how Covid-19 and the world’s response to it is affecting the super-rich — and what that means for power and politics.
FIJI IS OPEN FOR BUSINESS (BUT NOT YOURS)
I’ve been awaiting signs that the world’s oligarchs are gaining special pandemic-era privileges denied to us ordinary folk, and now — from Fiji — here they are. Fiji is an archipelago of several hundred islands about a quarter of the way from Australia to California and, although it’s been barely touched by Covid-19, its tourism industry has been devastated by global travel restrictions. So, last week, Prime Minister Frank Bainimarama sent out an appeal to the world’s superyachters and private jetters: Fiji wants them, and their money.
“Say you’re a billionaire looking to fly your own jet, rent your own island, and invest millions of dollars in Fiji in the process,” he tweeted. “If you’ve taken all the necessary health precautions and borne all associated costs, you may have a new home to escape the pandemic in paradise.”
Just to emphasize that this wasn’t an offer open to the ordinary kind of people who might normally vacation in Fiji, he tagged in Forbes magazine, the FT’s glossy How To Spend It supplement, Jetset magazine, and various other house publications of the ludicrously rich.