Tourists spent about $1 billion in tours and attractions in 2023 that included $491m in local restaurants, bars and other eateries, $265m on tours and attractions, $131m on local food markets and $113m on retail shopping.
Deputy Prime Minister and Tourism Minister Viliame Gavoka said this shows a potential benefit to local communities.
Speaking during the ‘Alternative to Tourism’ plenary session of the Fiji Institute of Chartered Accountants (FICA) annual congress – 2024, he said tourists seek to explore more during their visits, opportunities arise for local businesses to offer tours, attractions, and other activities, thereby stimulating economic growth in grassroots communities.
Statistics provided by Mr Gavoka showed that for 2023, lodging, accommodation and airfare accounted for 60 per cent of tourist spending.
Tourists spend $491m in local restaurants, bars and other eateries, $265m on tours and attractions, $131m on local food markets and $113m on retail shopping.
“As you can see based on this data, in 2023, tourists spent a significant amount on tours and attractions, indicating a growing interest in activities beyond lodging and airfare,” Mr Gavoka said.
“This trend suggests that tourism activities have the potential to benefit local communities, especially with increasing visitor numbers and spending on experiences.
“The US market is expected to grow significantly with change in aviation policy and Americans are very active visitors – they will explore Fiji.”
Mr Gavoka said the Ministry, through the Roko Tui Saravanua role, was reaching out to grassroots communities in building capacity and sharing knowledge on exploring community-based tourism activities such as adventure and eco-tourism.
He said there was a need to scale-up other alternative forms of tourism like retirement tourism, medical tourism, adventure tourism, cruise tourism and sports tourism.
“We need to work on building up activities and help spread the benefits of tourism to the other regions.”
