Fiji Bureau of Statistics: Provisional Visitor Arrivals - May 2018

Increases were recorded in the number of visitors from Australia [1,691 or 6.0% to 29,730]; the United States of America [1,057 or 17.6% to 7,059]; Continental Europe [391 or 14.9% to 3,013]; Rest of Asia [333 or 15.7% to 2,460] and the United Kingdom [50 or 4.2% to 1,239].

There were decreases in the number of visitors from the following countries; Pacific Islands [down 254 or 6.4% to 3,725]; Canada [down 220 or 20.9% to 834]; New Zealand [down 82 or 0.6% to 14,383]; China [down 52 or 1.5% to 3,447]; Japan [down 50 or 11.3% to 391] and South Korea [down 42 or 6.6% to 598].

Visitors arriving for holiday purposes accounted for 76.3% of total arrivals, 8.4% came to visit their friends or relatives, 3.6% came for business purposes, while 11.7% visited Fiji for other reasons.

Table 1 below presents actual numbers and the 2018 and 2017 comparisons of visitor arrivals for the month of May, January to May and twelve months to May 2018.

Table 1

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Note: Visitor statistics are released monthly using data sourced from the Immigration System. The limited number of tables released is due to the new system which came on line in May 2013.

Figure 1 below is a graphical comparison of Visitor Arrivals by Country for May 2018 and 2017.

Figure 1

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In the moving twelve monthly numbers ending May 2018, the total number of visitors to Fiji increased by 4.6% compared with the same period in 2017. Visitors from Rest of Asia increased by [16.2%]; Other Countries [15.7%]; the United States of America [13.1%]; New Zealand [9.8%]; South Korea [7.2%]; Continental Europe [4.9%]; Pacific Islands [4.7%]; Australia [0.8%] and the United Kingdom [0.4%].

Decreases was recorded for visitors from Japan [8.1%]; Canada [1.4%] and China [0.6%].

January to May 2018, showed that visitor arrivals increased by 2.1% over the corresponding period in 2017, up from 296,088 to 302,329.

Figure 2 below shows a graphical comparison of visitor arrivals by country during the period January to May 2018.

Figure 2

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Figure 3 below shows the twelve monthly comparisons.

Figure 3

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The majority of visitors to Fiji in May 2018 were in the age range 25-64 (67.7%), which accounts for the vast majority of the working age population. Children aged 14 and below accounted for 14.2% of the May visitor arrivals; 10.1% comprising those in the predominantly retirement age group of 65 and over with the remaining and 8.0% comprising were youths aged 15-24

Figure 4 below shows a significant gender differential in the age groups 20-24, 25-29, 35-39, 40-45, 45-49, 50-54 and 65+;

Figure 4

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Visitors by Occupation

The top 5 Occupational Groups for visitors engaged in gainful employment in their home countries are as follows;
1) Professional Workers - 13,095
2) Legislators - 9,999
3) Technician and Related Workers - 8,122
4) Service Workers - 4,507
5) Craft Workers - 3,541

Visitors who are not in the labour force were categorised into two major groups. The categories and numbers are as follows;
1) Retirees, Housewives, Children & Others - 13,705
2) Students - 9,224

Additional details are provided in Figure 5 below;

Figure 5

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