Christmas comes early for the Solomon Islands tourism industry with huge increases in international visitor arrivals

(TRAVPR.COM) SOLOMON ISLANDS - December 2nd, 2015 - Honiara, Solomon Islands – International visitation arrivals to the Solomon Islands for September 2015 have jumped by a massive 28 per cent. 

Official government figures released this week show a total of 2211 international travellers visited the destination in September, the figure in the process eclipsing the 1730 total recorded for the same period in 2014 with huge gains recorded in the Australian, New Zealand and Fiji markets. 

Australian visitors again topped the list, the 1029 total recorded for the month comprising 46 per cent of all arrivals. 

And for the first time New Zealand visitor arrivals overtook Fiji, Kiwi arrivals increasing 49 per cent from 107 in September 2014 to 160 for the same period in 2015. 

The Australia and New Zealand results were mirrored with by increased visitation from Fiji (110 per cent), Papua New Guinea (37 per cent) and the United States (50 per cent). 

Solomon Islands Visitors Bureau CEO again attributed the increased visitation figures to the ongoing marketing activities the national tourist office has undertaken in partnership with Solomon Airlines in its key source markets and particularly Australia and New Zealand. 

“2014 was very much a case of our needing to build a platform but despite doing this and doing it well, last year was tough for us due to a number of factors which had impact on our visitation numbers,” Mr Tuamoto said. 

“Our efforts this year certainly seem to paying off and we are definitely back on track for a much stronger year this time around. 

“Christmas has certainly come early for us this year.”

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