Fiji’s hotel and tourism accommodation sector recorded a strong start to 2026, with overall takings rising 12.3 percent to $310.6 million in the March quarter, according to the latest provisional statistics released by the Fiji Bureau of Statistics.
The increase was driven by higher revenue from accommodation, food, liquor, telephone and other miscellaneous charges, compared to $276.7 million recorded during the same period last year.
Employment across licensed hotels, resorts and lodging houses also grew, with the number of paid employees increasing by 1.7 percent to 13,249 workers.
Accommodation demand remained steady, with the room occupancy rate edging up to 49.7 percent, an increase of 0.2 percentage points from the March quarter of 2025.
The number of rooms available increased marginally by 0.2 percent to 882,753, while rooms sold rose by 0.4 percent to 438,521.
Growth was stronger for bed capacity, with beds available increasing by 2.2 percent to 1.81 million, while beds sold climbed 3.9 percent to 904,628.
As a result, the bed occupancy rate improved by 0.8 percentage points to 49.9 percent.
The Bureau also noted regional differences in accommodation performance.
Room occupancy increased in the Nadi, Lautoka, Mamanuca and Yasawa Group areas during the March quarter, while occupancy declined in Suva, the Northern Division, the Coral Coast and other areas.
Visitor trends showed that Australia remained the dominant source market for Nadi, the Coral Coast and the Mamanuca and Yasawa Group, while the Northern Division recorded a large number of visitors from the United States.
In the Suva area, many visitors came from Japan and other Pacific Island countries.
The Bureau’s data also shows tourist arrivals for the March quarter reached 196,977, up from 184,119 during the same period in 2025, reflecting continued growth in Fiji’s tourism sector.
