Tourism earnings for the March quarter raked in $490.7 million, says the Fiji Bureau of Statistics.

The Bureaus says earnings went up by $70.4m, an increase of 16.7% when compared to the same period last year.

In its Fiji Earnings from Tourism report issued this week, the Bureau reported that tourism spend increased from $420.3m in 2023 to $490.7m this year.

The Bureau said the earnings, however, were 27.6% down from the $187.1m recorded for the December quarter of 2023.

The Bureau said the changes in major markets when compared to the March quarter 2023 was – $248.3m in 2024 for Australia (up by $7m or 50.6%), $87.6m for New Zealand (up by $8.8m or 17.9%), $57.3m for USA (up by $15.7m or 11.7%) and $19.5m for the Pacific Islands (up by $2.8m or 4%).

Those countries alone accounted for 84.1% of earnings for the March quarter of 2024.