Chinese arrivals drive South Pacific tourism

Islands in the South Pacific posted a 7% rise in visitor numbers in the first quarter of 2015, driven by a surge in the number of Chinese arrivals.

According to the latest data from the South Pacific Tourism Organisation (SPTO), the region welcomed 380,870 tourists in the first three months of the year, up from 355,601 in the same period in 2014.

Fiji (143,447) was the most visited South Pacific country, accounting for 38% of total arrivals, ahead of Palau (48,647) and Papua New Guinea (42,678).

And while Australian visitors continue to dominate the figures, accounting for 30% of all visitors (115,581) in Q1 2015, the rise of Chinese visitors was the most noteworthy.

A total of 41,679 Chinese visited the South Pacific region in Q1 2015, 151% more than the same quarter in 2014. And 63% of these Chinese tourists visited Palau, following the launch of direct flights to island from Hong Kong and Macau. This helped Palau record the region’s highest growth rate, with a 72% year-on-year jump in arrivals.

“The gradual increase of visitor arrivals in Palau is commendable and is attributed to direct flights from mainland China,” said SPTO chief executive, Ilisoni Vuidreketi. “Overall, the visitor arrivals into the South Pacific remained on a steady growth particularly from the major source markets of Australia and New Zealand and this is very encouraging.”

But the Chinese outbound boom isn’t helping all South Pacific nations; the Cook Islands, French Polynesia, Papua New Guinea, Solomon Islands and Vanuatu all experienced a drop in their visitor arrivals in the first quarter of 2015. Although the impact of Cyclone Pam was responsible for the decline in arrivals to Vanuatu and the Solomon Islands.

sourced:traveldailymedia.com