The provisional data released by the Fiji Bureau of Statistics states that in November this year, Fiji welcomed 74,748 visitors.

This marks a 17.4 per cent increase from the previous year.

However, this figure reflects a 10.0 per cent decrease compared to October 2023 which had recorded a total of 83,030 visitors.

Comparing to 2022 and 2021, November visitor arrivals were 8.1 per cent higher than the pre-COVID levels in November 2019, standing at 63,646 and 717 respectively.

Of the total visitors, 74,474 arrived by air while 274 arrived by sea mainly comprising seamen on fishing vessels (219) and yacht arrivals (55).

Holiday purposes dominated the visitation reasons at 78.1 per cent followed by visits to friends or relatives, business and other reasons.

The age distribution showed that 63.3 per cent of visitors fell in the 25-64 age range, representing the working-age population.

Children aged 14 and below accounted for 12.0 per cent, youths aged 15-24 made up 14.4 per cent, and those aged 65 and over comprised 10.3 per cent.

In terms of departures, 17,049 Fiji residents left in November. Among them, 85.0 per cent had short-term absences of under three months, 3.8 per cent left for over three months but within a year, and 11.2 per cent departed for a longer-term absence of one year or more.

Reasons for short-term departures included holidays, visiting friends or relatives, business, education/training, employment and other reasons.