Great news from Fiji: For the third month running, Fiji's international tourist arrival numbers have broken records, according to the Fiji Bureau of Statistics. The report says that the destination set a new record in June, hosting just under 56,000 visitors.
The 55,995 figure achieved for the month surpasses the previous highest ever visitor arrival figure—and four-year record—set in June 2006 when Fiji had 52,795 international arrivals
The June 2010 figure brings total arrivals for the year to 272,520. This passes the previous record set for a January-June period—when 2008 saw a total of 270,856 visitors—by an additional 1,664 visitor arrivals.
Tourism Fiji CEO Josefa Tuamoto drew attention to the ongoing strong performance being achieved in the Australia market, which reached 27,651 arrivals—a 48.3 percent increase over the corresponding period in 2009.
Mr Tuamoto also pointed towards the positive inroads being achieved in the New Zealand and US markets, both of which had registered substantial gains over the six month period with visitor arrival growth increasing exponentially by 16.4 and 9.1 percent, respectively.
Mr Tuamoto said traffic from the UK and mainland Europe had also increased by 3 percent, the slight increase attributed to the region’s slow but steady recovery from the GFC in the period leading up to the key northern hemisphere holiday period.
Fiji's best-ever international visitor figure remains the 582,602 benchmark set for the 12 month period January – December 2008.
