Ritika Pratap 
The 929,740 visitors who arrived in Fiji last year contributed an estimated $3.22 billion to the Fijian economy.
This has been highlighted in the 2023 Fiji International Visitor Survey which is an initiative of the Ministry of Tourism and Civil Aviation.
The survey reveals that approximately 46 percent of the spending occurred prior to arrival while the remaining 54 percent occurred while in the country.
This distribution is similar to the distribution in 2022.
The survey also shows that the average visitor spent $404 per night, which is higher than $376 spent in 2022, but visitors spent $3,462 per trip in 2023, which is lower than $3,572 spent per trip in 2022.
Visitors spent an estimated $1.19b on lodging/accommodations and $736m on international airfare to Fiji.
The visitors spent $491m on restaurants, bars and other eating places, $265m on tours and attractions, $131m at local supermarkets, and $113m on retail shopping.
Combined, visitors spent just under $300m on car rentals, other shopping, bus/taxis, boat transportation, handicrafts, services, small ship cruises, transfers, communications, and other miscellaneous expenses.
In 2023, Australia remained the largest source market, accounting for 47% of all visitors, which is lower than the 54% of all visitors in 2022.
As was the case in 2022, visitors from New Zealand accounted for 24 percent of all visitors, visitors from the U.S. accounted for 11percent,
Canada accounted for two percent, and United Kingdom one percent.
By contrast, the proportion of visitors from the Pacific Islands increased from three to six percent, from Continental Europe it increased from two to three percent and the share of Asian visitors increased from two to six percent.
