Tourists spent a significant amount on tours and attractions, indicating a growing interest in activities beyond lodging and airfare says Tourism Minister Viliame Gavoka.

He highlighted this while revealing that lodging and accommodations and airfare accounted for 60% of the spending in 2023.

The Minister says 929,740 visitors who arrived in Fiji last year contributed an estimated $3.22 billion to the economy, approximately 46 percent of the spending occurred prior to arrival while the remaining 54 percent of spending occurred while in the country.

Gavoka says this trend suggests that tourism activities have the potential to benefit local communities, especially with increasing visitor numbers and spending on experiences.

“As tourists seek to explore more during their visits, opportunities arise for local businesses to offer tours, attractions, and other activities, thereby stimulating economic growth in grassroots communities. The US market is expected to grow significantly with change in aviation policy and Americans are very active visitors – they will explore Fiji.”

Gavoka says they are reaching out to the grassroots communities in building capacity and sharing knowledge on exploring community based tourism activities such as Adventure and Eco Tourism.

The Minister says they need to work on building up activities and help spread the benefits of tourism to the other regions in Fiji.

He adds in the 3 months this year Fiji has not only recovered pre-pandemic numbers, but are around 12 percent higher and by the end of the year they are projecting to receive a million visitors.