Tourist numbers surge around Pacific

Transcript

Tourist numbers have been surging around the Pacific, with many countries reaching record highs in 2015.

Visitor arrival numbers remained high into the summer as many Polynesians returned home for a Christmas break.

Bridget Grace reports.  

Fiji's summer season began with record figures for November when arrivals were up seven-point-four percent on a year earlier.

Tourism Fiji's Global PR Manager Patricia Mallan says visitor confidence is on the rise and they're seeing a influx of visitors from Australia and New Zealand due to new direct routes opening from Wellington and the Gold Coast.

PATRICIA MALLAN: We've noticed there's more confidence from our international visitors wanting to come to Fiji more now, because of the infrastructure developments.  There's also just a considered effort from industry operators to meet the changing demands of the travellers that we're seeing.

Miss Mallan says while Fiji has traditionally been a family destination, they're now seeing more adventure travellers and honeymooners.

The Cook Islands had the biggest year yet, with visitor arrivals peaking at 124,000, due to more New Zealand and North American visitors.

The CEO of the Cook Islands Tourism Corporation, Halatoa Fua, says this summer they've seen more family reunions in the islands.  

HALATOA FUA: We have noticed a lot of returning relatives, Cook Islanders living in New Zealand and Australia, during December. There's been a lot of family reunions and functions.  We have seen an increase in visitor arrivals from returning Cook Islanders and that's another market that we do focus on.

Mr Fua says 2016 looks set to be a big year, with new routes opening from New Zealand to Rarotonga and aircraft being upgraded on existing routes.

Samoa has been enjoying a growth in tourists over the past five years, despite several natural disasters

The CEO of the Samoa Tourist Authority, Papalili Sonja Hunter, says they've also had a lot of Samoans returning over the holiday period.  

PAPALILI SONJA HUNTER: A lot of our accommodation properties have been quite full over Christmas and New Year, there's a lot of people doing reunions and family meetings and so forth.  That's a noticeable trend, while we are out there campaigning for the holiday visitor it's also bringing our overseas-based communities, with very good disposable incomes coming in.

Vanuatu tourism is recovering from a difficult year after Cyclone Pam battered the islands in March.

The Vanuatu Tourist Rep for New Zealand, Jacquie Carson, says over the past few months visitor numbers have tracked back to pre-cyclone levels.

JACQUIRE CARSON: Vanuatu is definitely recovering, and things are looking great.  All the product is up and running, there's nothing still damaged or closed from the cyclone and we've had a great Christmas and New Year, very very full resorts.

Mrs Carson says Vanuatu is showing early signs of recovery and this year they're expecting a ten percent increase in visitor numbers from 2014.