Fiji Tourist numbers up

Provisional tourism arrival numbers in Fiji for January this year increased by 12.5 per cent when compared with last year.

According to the tourism sector, the first month of the year experienced an influx of tourist arrivals compared with last year's figures.

Fijian Minister for Industry, Trade and Tourism Faiyaz Koya said 64,943 visitors arrived into the country at the start of 2017.

He said this was a record for the month of January.

According to the Fiji Bureau of Statistics, Fiji's annual visitor arrival numbers for 2016 reached a new peak of 792,320.

This was a 5 per cent increase from the 754,835 set in 2015.

The statisticians revealed the record level of visitor arrivals in 2016 was because of the increase of visitors flowing in from New Zealand, China, US, South Korean, Pacific Island Countries, Japan, Canada and Continental Europe.

The 2016 visitor numbers from New Zealand and China were the highest ever recorded with 163,836 and 49,083 respectively.

“Visitor numbers from Fiji's top two source markets, Australia (360,370) and New Zealand (163,836) equate to average daily arrivals of 987 and 449 respectively,” the bureau stated.

“Visitors arriving for holiday purposes totalled 600,887 (75.8 per cent), 68,262 (8.6 per cent) came to visit friends or relatives, 32,922 (4.2 per cent) came for business purposes while 90,249 (11.4 per cent) visited Fiji for other reasons,” he said.

There were significant increases in the number of visitors for business and visiting friends and relatives.


SOURCE: FIJI TIMES