Fiji is firmly on track to lock in an unprecedented one million visitors for the 2026 calendar year.
After surpassing the one-million mark for the 12 months to June this year, and with total year-to-date arrivals for the first half of this year sitting at 460,628 visitors, ANZ Group’s senior Pacific economist Dr Kishti Sen is “very confident” about achieving one million visitors for the actual 2026 calendar year.
“All Fiji needs to do is hold the July to December 2026 arrivals at last year’s levels (542,607 visitor arrival from July-December 2025),” Dr Sen told this newspaper.
“You don’t even have to grow those numbers. Holding is sufficient and the feedback I’m getting is that bookings to at least August are looking good.
“That means we will likely do better over July and August when compared to last year.”
Dr Sen said the growth that Fiji has had in the first six months plus expected better numbers for July and August would be enough to break the one million visitor milestone this calendar year.
“Fiji can focus on the October, November and December months of 2026 to ensure that this year’s momentum in the visitor arrival economy is carried into 2027. Very important this.”
The ANZ Group’s Pacific Insight report had revealed Fiji surpassed the one million visitor arrivals mark for the 12 months to June this year; and it also showed that cumulative arrivals to June 2026 was the highest ever when compared to the same period of previous years.
That means the January-June 2026 arrivals beat the January-June inbound demand of all previous years.
While Dr Sen could not comment on the cash yield across the industry, citing unavailability of data, he said for the 35 or so hotels surveyed by Tourism Fiji and its partners, revenue for those groups over the January to May months this year were seven to 12 per cent higher than the same months of last year.
“Stronger demand is contributing to it and that, in turn, is supporting jobs in the industry.
“The upshot is that the tourism industry is doing a remarkable job in sustaining demand, jobs and economic growth for Fiji,” Dr Sen said.
