Kreetika Kumar 
[File Photo]
The provisional numbers released by the Fiji Bureau of Statistics show that visitor arrivals for last month totalled 70,794.
This figure marks a record for the month of January, representing a slight increase of 0.7 percent compared to the same month last year.
However, there was a 15.6 percent decrease compared to December last year, which recorded a total of 83,840.
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Visitor arrivals in January 2024 and 2023 stood at 70,324 and 67,502, respectively.
Of the 70,794 visitors, 69,653 arrived by air, while 1,141 arrived by sea. The sea arrivals were mostly seamen on fishing vessels, with 4 arriving by yacht.
For January this year, visitors arriving for holiday purposes accounted for 78.9 percent of total arrivals. 7.2 percent came to visit friends or relatives, 1.4 percent came for business purposes, and 12.5 percent visited Fiji for other reasons.
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The majority of visitors were in the age range of 25-64 years, which accounts for the vast majority of the working-age population.
Children aged 14 and below made up 18.4 percent of the January visitor arrivals, while 12.5 percent were youths aged 15-24, and the remaining 9.5 percent were in the predominantly retirement age group of 65 and over.
