Regional Tourism Arrivals To The Region Up 18.4% In The June Quarter

Tourist arrivals in the Pacific ACP and SPTO member countries increased by 18.4% in the second quarter of this year when compared to the first quarter. This increase is in line with the global momentum of tourism growth with international tourist arrivals reaching 6% growth compared to 4.7% in the previous quarter.
The figures were released by SPTO in its Quarter 2 Tourism Arrivals Review this week with comparative analysis over the preceding quarter and the corresponding period of the prior year.
The favourable performance in the June quarter reversed the consecutive decline witnessed in the preceding two quarters in the region. Year to June 2017 arrivals already reached 949,712, up 2.8% over the corresponding six months last year.
The marked turnaround reflected a number of massive tourism promotional campaigns, increased in new air service arrangements and flight schedules and improved tourism infrastructure developments undertaken by most of the major destinations in the region.
Consequently, tourist arrivals to the region accelerated, triggered by strong growth in tourist arrivals to Cook Islands by 47.7%, Solomon Islands 31.6%, Fiji 28.3%, American Samoa 26.5%, Samoa 22%, and Tonga by 13%. Compared to the corresponding quarter of 2016, tourist arrivals to the region also grew by 5.5% with Timor Leste showing the highest growth by 52.2%.
On market shares, Fiji maintained its supremacy as the lead tourism destination in the region with 40.6% share, up from the 36.9% share in the First Quarter of 2017. The second highest, French Polynesia registered an estimated share of 9.1%. This was followed by Cook Islands at 8.2%, PNG 7.7%, Samoa 7.0%, Palau 5.7%, Timor Leste 5.0% and New Caledonia and Vanuatu with estimated share of 5.2% and 4.6%, respectively. The remaining 7.0% was shared among all the other destinations in the region.
Arrivals by major source markets rebounded by 8.6% to 464,256, after two weak quarters. The acceleration of 36,887 arrivals against the previous quarter was underlined by rising arrivals from the Pacific’s four leading source markets, Australia by 22%, New Zealand 56.4%, USA 4.2% and Other Asia by 4.7%. Against the same quarter in 2016, arrivals by major source markets to the region however, fell mildly by 0.6% with Europe showing the highest fall by 25.8%.
Australia and New Zealand remained the leading markets for the region in the Second Quarter, with shares of 31.7% and 22.5%, respectively. USA, the third highest source market represented  10.2%, followed by Other Asia at 9.1%, China 7.0% while Europe and Pacific Islands each with shares of 6.5%. The other source markets made up the remaining 6.5% at the end of the Second Quarter.
The June Quarter 2017 publication can be accessed through SPTO RTRC Website. The publication is also distributed to SPTO member countries through Board Members, National Statistics Offices, National Tourism Offices, Reserve/Central Banks, Private Sector Members and Other stakeholders.
The Quarterly Publication is an important tool for SPTO’s partners and key regional stakeholders as tourism is one of the key drivers of economic development across the region. It assists Government and Private Sector Stakeholders keep abreast with the latest tourism developments in particular arrivals from the source markets as well as the destinations for planning purposes, developing marketing strategies and formulating policies.
 
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About SPTO
Established in 1983 as the Tourism Council of the South Pacific, the South Pacific Tourism Organisation (SPTO) is the mandated organisation representing Tourism in the region. Its 18 Government members are American Samoa, Cook Islands, Federated States of Micronesia, Fiji, French Polynesia, Kiribati, Nauru, Marshall Islands, New Caledonia, Niue, Papua New Guinea, Samoa, Solomon Islands, Timor Leste, Tonga, Tuvalu, Vanuatu and the People’s Republic of China. In addition to government members, the South Pacific Tourism Organisation enlists a private sector membership base.
 
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For more information, contact:
Alisi Lutu, Marketing Manager
South Pacific Tourism Organisation (SPTO)
Email: alutu@spto.org or +679 3304177
 
(Source: South Pacific Tourism Organisation [SPTO] Press Release 19 September 2017)