Tourist arriving at the airport [File Photo]

Provisional numbers for visitor arrivals for October this year totalled 70,152.

The Fiji Bureau of Statistics reveals that this is a decrease of 3.4 percent, compared to September 2022.

In a statement, the Bureau says that while visitor arrivals for October has greatly improved, the figure is 9.4 percent lower, compared to figures for the same month, pre-COVID.

Of the 70,152 visitors, 69,052 came by air, while 1,100 came by sea.

The Bureau says the sea arrivals were mostly seamen on fishing vessels, totalling 69 visitors who arrived by yachts.

Statistics also reveal that 49 percent of the visitors were from Australia, with 28 percent from New Zealand, 11 percent from the United States and 2.2 percent from Europe.