Japan has surpassed the United States in flight searches for Fiji, according to Tourism Fiji. Additionally, India has emerged as one of the two countries with a notable increase in interest for flights to the destination.
Australia and New Zealand continue to be the leading nations making flight inquiries about Fiji. Brent Hill, the chief executive officer of Tourism Fiji, noted that the primary countries accessing their website for flight information are encouraging.
“It’s also encouraging to see Japan making strides in search rankings, indicating that interest among Japanese tourists in Fiji is growing,” Hill commented. “We anticipate a strong occupancy rate, with July expected to be solid, and forward bookings indicating that our figures remain robust.”
Hill highlighted that while Australia, New Zealand, and the US are the three largest markets for Fiji, New Zealand is experiencing a slight decline attributed to widely acknowledged economic challenges, including inflation and high interest rates. Despite this, overall figures from New Zealand are holding steady.
Recent data shows flight searches have risen from Australia by 1.9 percent and from India by 0.6 percent, while there has been a 1.2 percent decline in searches from New Zealand and a 0.4 percent decrease from Japan.
Regarding accommodation, Fiji recorded an average occupancy rate of 86 percent in July, with August forward bookings averaging 79 percent and October at 66 percent. The predominant countries searching for accommodation are Australia (35 percent), New Zealand (31 percent), and the United States (9.6 percent). There has also been a decline in accommodation searches from Canada (1.0 percent) and New Zealand (0.9 percent).