News

Chinese tourist numbers down

February 26, 2018 4:40 am

The number of tourists from China has dropped in the last two years, despite the strengthened relationship between the two countries.

Over the years, trade agreements, bilateral partnership and business investments have increased but this hasn’t translated into increased arrivals.

Permanent Secretary in the Ministry of Tourism, Shaheen Ali says the slight dip could possibly be due to the Chinese New Year chartered flights.

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Ali says in order to boost the number of Chinese tourists, Tourism Fiji will be doubling its marketing efforts.

“In the last budget we increased the allocation of Tourism Fiji marketing grant significantly and there is always that emphasis for Government to resource Tourism Fiji adequately so it is able to market the Fijian brand.”

Ali says from all indications, the Chinese market is expected to grow and the Industry needs to be China ready.

As of January last year, the number of Chinese tourists amounted to 5,908 whereas in January 2018, the numbers stood at 3,757.