Figures released by Tourism Fiji this week (Sep 15) have shown close to 25,000 Australians visited the destination in July, a record for the South Pacific nation.
Aussies are heading back to Fiji in record numbers.
Pictured: Radisson Fiji Resort on Denarau Island
The 24,729 figure achieved in July establishes a new July record for the destination, the numbers eclipsing the 21,550 figure achieved for the same period in 2008 by more than 3000.
Tourism Fiji regional director Australia Paresh Pant attributed the surge in numbers to the efforts Tourism Fiji’s Australia team has gone to keep the destination top of mind with both the travel industry and the general public.
A good example of this, he said, was the recent AUD$1 million dollar ‘stimulus’ marketing campaign which saw business to Fiji increase by up to 75 per cent in the period the campaign was running on national TV and in print.
“These figures and preliminary results from a recent national TV campaign with Fiji Specialist Holidays and Air Pacific bode extremely well for our 2009 Australian visitor arrival objectives and will play a major part in seeing us achieve targets,” he said.
The July figure brings Fiji’s Australian visitor tally for the year to 113,149, still 10.9 per cent down on the 127,057 figure achieved for the January-July period last year.
However an upbeat Pant said when the effects the January floods had on Australian visitor arrivals and the ongoing global recession were taken into account, Fiji was gathering strength for a strong finish to the year.
“Our campaigns have been very successful,” Pant said.
“Collectively our major wholesale partners report very steady Fiji business on a week on week basis which can be directly attributed to the timing of our campaigns,” he said.
The July Australian visitor arrival figure was one of the destination’s strongest and has helped take overall international figures further along the recovery road.
While almost 24 per cent down in the first three months of the year, international visitor arrivals grew steadily in the last four months to reach 280,530.
This figure represents an overall 15 per cent drop on the total figure achieved in the first seven months of Fiji’ record breaking 2008 when the destination welcomed 329,855 international visitors.
