Fiji Swaps Flowers for Coral Bouquets on Valentine’s Day
Published 12 February 2024
Fiji’s tourism board is offering couples a sustainable gifting option for Valentine’s Day in the form of a coral bouquet planted on one of the archipelago’s reefs. Positioned as an eco-friendlier alternative to cut flowers, the recipient will receive a downloadable card with a photo of the coral being cultivated in their name.
At A Glance
Buyers can give the gift of ocean conservation by choosing to ‘adopt’ baby fragments of coral from five different species, including pocillopora maeandrina (commonly known as cauliflower coral) and acropora muricata (the fastest-growing species in the world). Recipients are kept up to date via email about their journey from coral nursery to reef transplant.
The initiative is in partnership with local marine non-profit Coral Gardeners, which has planted over 100,000 corals in French Polynesia, home to the world’s third largest coral reef, since it was founded in 2017. The charity, which is based at luxury resort Six Senses Fiji, will receive 100% of the proceeds to help its ongoing reef regeneration projects.
Not only is this gifting campaign a way to raise money for and awareness of the plight of the region’s coral reefs, it also prevents waste; 250 million flower stems are sold worldwide for Valentine’s Day each year (Business Waste, 2024), with most finding their way into landfill. The initiative also helps cement Fiji’s reputation as a sustainable tourism destination – a moniker likely to appeal to the growing number of globetrotters seeking more eco-conscious travel practices.