Tourism grossed $800 million in 2008

July 04, 2009 10:18:16 AM

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Earnings from the tourism sector in 2008 are estimated to gross $892.3 million, according to new data released this week by the Fiji Islands Bureau of Statistics (FIBOS). 

FBIOS has had to hold back the release of tourism figures for 2008 due to unavailability of data, which it said have now become available. 

Adjustments therefore have been made to its statistics for the period between 2000 and the third quarter of 2007, it said. 

At $892.3 million, the gross earning for 2008 is a 13.8 percent increase over 2007, attributed to an 8.7 percent increase in visitor days, according to FIBOS.

Overall, according to its revised data, tourism arrivals increased 8.4 percent from 539,881 in 2007 to an estimated 585 031 in 2008, while it was estimated that tourists stayed longer on average compared to 2007.

Last year also saw a high number of cruise ship passengers - over 17,000 tourists traveled through Fiji in a number of cruise ships, compared to just over 2400 in 2007, although their numbers are not included as part of total visitor arrivals, according to FBIOS.

In the last eight years, cruise ship tourist numbers have not exceeded 10,000, except in 2000 when Fiji hosted 10,081 cruise passengers, mostly on one day visits, and in 2003, a record year with over 20,000 for cruise passengers. 

Still considered the mainstay of Fiji’s economy, tourism has grown from a $300 million industry in 2000 to what it is today.